Fighting For My Family
by Reizbar-Ookami
Summary: Well we're getting sucked into video games and attacked by Duel Monster cards that all want us dead for something we did in the past, might as well add something scientific to put the icing on the cake.
1. Chapter 1

Shattered, Broken, Dispirited, Dejected

Chapter 1

"_**We interrupt this program for breaking news--"**_

"You don't suppose that's-?" Tristan asked, hopefully, sitting up from slouching on Yugi's couch.

Yami couldn't help his doubt. The last few times, the disappointment had hurt. "Don't get your hopes up, Tristan. There's been lots of breaking news lately."

"Yeah, but--"

"Will you guys shut up?!" Téa exclaimed angrily, turning a sharp glare on them. "We won't know either way if you guys keep talking!"

Both males sighed and turned their attention back to the TV screen.

"_**Earlier today at approximately ten o'clock, a fire broke out in a warehouse, supposedly warehouse number seven on the pier, which decimated the facility."**_

"Oh, that's _so_ important," Yugi muttered, crossing his arms angrily.

"_**While firefighters responded to the fire, three people were found in the water nearby, two of them in fair condition and the other in serious condition. They're believed to be the three missing teenagers kidnapped from their homes four months ago."**_

A stunned silence soon followed. The four teens stared at the TV for a few minutes before Téa let out an excited shriek. "We have to go to the hospital to see them!"

-z-z-z-

"This... this isn't _possible._ It's _insane!_"

"His body is healing at three times the normal human rate!"

"Put them under lock and key. Let no one in to see them."

-z-z-z-

Mokuba sat up quickly, gasping, and looked around wildly, clenching a hand over his pounding heart. He looked around wildly, then sighed in relief; it was a hospital room. A nice, _safe_ hospital room.

"Mokuba?" Ryou asked softly, sitting up (but at a slower pace) as well. "You're awake as well?"

The younger teen nodded. "Yeah. I don't quite remember what happened, though. Just an explosion and Joey screaming something at me is all that comes to mind when I think back on it."

Both boys looked at the bed placed between them, where the blond was sleeping peacefully. The gentle rise and fall of his chest informed them that he was fine; he trusted where he was to be safe and so he slept deeply for the first in months. It would only be a matter of time before he woke up in the same, disoriented way they had, however.

"So... what are we supposed to tell everyone?" Mokuba asked softly, looking down at his hands.

"Should we tell them?" Ryou replied, turning his gaze on his lap. "Would they still accept us if we did tell them, or are they better off not knowing?"

Both silently agreed to ask Joey when he woke up. Joey had been there a good two weeks before they had and, though he was absent-minded and a bit slow on the uptake outside, was very knowledgeable about the goings on in the warehouse. He would offer up what he believed should happen and they would discuss it until a decision was made.

"...So... how long do you think it'll take--" Mokuba began, only to be interrupted by what he was going to ask.

Joey sat up quickly, panting wildly, as he swung at the air in front of him. He blinked for a few seconds, stunned that no one had been in front of him to hit, then sighed and fell back again. "Ugh... This much white can only mean we're in a hospital."

"Joey, what are we going to do?" Mokuba asked quickly, getting right to the point. "They must've seen us healing, and--"

"Answer no questions. Give a round about answer. Refuse to answer if necessary," the blond answered immediately. "It was ordered that all evidence be destroyed; we _are_ evidence, so we'll be destroyed. Everyone who knows about us, what we are, will be killed as well. If they don't know, they can't be hurt."

"They wouldn't believe we'd be stupid enough to tell anyone?" Ryou asked, frowning.

Joey sat back up and sighed. "They believe we might be guilty enough to tell. People _will_ ask where we were. People who care about us and will guilt-trip us into telling them. When you feel like breaking down, run and come to me. I'll take care of it."

"...Okay..."

The blond turned his head toward the door slowly, a small smile gracing his lips. "Your brother's here, Mokuba."

"Big brother?!" the raven-haired teen exclaimed, grinning. "How close is he?!"

"Close enough that you'll hear him yelling to let him in to see you. I heard we're to be kept under lock and key and no one is to see us."

"Easily fixed," Ryou murmured, turning his gaze on the window.

Mokuba frowned. "I'm sure you'd _love_ to walk around in your hospital gown, Ryou."

"Again, easily fixed," the albino answered, smiling innocently.

The trio didn't even flinch as the door was slammed open. Mokuba did, however, jump off his bed as the door swung open, so Seto was met with a black blur before he fell to the ground. Ryou and Joey snickered to themselves but quickly put on straight faces as the elder Kaiba sent them a glare.

"Seto! You have no idea how much I missed you!" Mokuba exclaimed, helping his brother to his feet. On second thought, to comfort his brother, he added, "Oh! But don't worry! Joey watched out for me!"

Seto raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze on the blond, then snorted in disgust. "That doesn't make me feel any better, Mokuba. I'm getting you out of here as soon as possible."

"_Tch,_" Joey muttered, rolling his eyes, then followed Ryou's longing gaze to the window. "We'll be lucky to get out of here in a month."

"Did you say something, mutt?" the brunet asked sharply, turning a glare on him.

Joey looked around in confusion, blinking innocently. "Who, me? Naw, why would I say anythin'?"

"...I want pants, Seto. Can you get me some pants?" Mokuba asked suddenly, taking the attention from Jounouchi.

Seto sighed, but his cold eyes warmed momentarily. "I suppose I can find some around here."

As soon as the door closed, the raven-haired boy let out a soft whine. "I don't know how long I'll be able to lie to him! He's always taken care of me, and now--"

"All of the money and technology in the world will not protect you," Ryou stated softly, frowning. "They will find us in due time."

"Meaning either way... we're going to die?" Mokuba asked softly, tears welling up in his eyes.

Joey growled softly and made a fist, scowling. "Like hell! I'm fighting back with all I got!" His chocolate eyes deepened to an angry amber. "And thanks to them, all I got is pretty damn a lot."

"What about when Serenity asks, Joey?" the raven-haired teen asked, frowning.

The blond relaxed his fist slowly, sorrow overtaking the anger of his expression. "...I dunno. For now, let's just tell them that we can't remember much of what happened. Just lots of fuzzy stuff. Okay? They should accept that answer for now."

"What about Bakura?" Ryou asked suddenly, looking alarmed. "We have a connection, we--"

"You can block it, can't ya?" Joey asked softly. "I usually wouldn't ask you to do this, but..."

"I understand." The albino bowed his head. "...I wouldn't want him to be hurt either."

Mokuba let out a loud, frustrated groan. "Uuugh! They ruined our lives!"

"They ruined more than that. They ruined our humanity," Ryou replied, falling back onto his pillow with a sigh. After a small pause, he chuckled softly and looked at the blond. "Now that I think about it, when Kaiba calls you a dog, it'll sort of be like an inside joke now, don't you think?"

Joey shot him a short glare. "Can it, bird brains!"

The albino smiled innocently and let his eyes flash a violent shade of acid green before returning to their natural brown. "Yes sir, Mr. Mutt sir."

A soft growl escaped the blond's lips. "I'm gonna rip your wings right outta your--"

"Hey! Guys!" Mokuba exclaimed, frowning. "Shouldn't you keep it quiet?"

Ryou smiled innocently. "It's not my fault he's so easy to mess with." He turned his gaze back on the taller boy. "Right, Mr. Mutt?"

"I'll Mr. Mutt you!" Joey replied, scowling. Unfortunately for the blond, the door opened before he could show Ryou exactly _how_ he was going to 'Mr. Mutt' him.

Seto raised an eyebrow slightly as he found Mokuba laughing at some joke he'd obviously missed, then rolled his eyes and sighed. "I got your clothes, Mokuba. Hurry up and get dressed. We're leaving."

"Leaving?" Mokuba asked, tilting his head. He looked back at Jounouchi and Ryou. "All of us?"

"_No,_ just you," his brother replied, scowling.

The raven-haired teen sighed sadly. "...Oh." He turned his gaze on his two companions. "...Joey, I..."

"Moneybags, do me one favor and answer a question for me," Joey ordered suddenly, looking up at the elder Kaiba. "My dad. Is it true?"

Seto scowled at him. "What are you talking about, mutt?"

The blond scowled right back at him, eyes steeling as he anxiously awaited his answer. "My _dad._ Is it true? Is he dead? Or was that just something they used to break me?"

"...I don't know," the brunet answered truthfully. "I've been busy."

As the older teen bowed his head, hiding his eyes from view, Mokuba quickly added, "I can ask!"

"No. I don't think I can stomach it anymore," Joey replied, not looking up. "Maybe I'll ask someone tomorrow."

"...Whatever, mutt. Come on, Mokuba."

The raven-haired teen frowned as he looked back at his friends one last time, eyes flashing a melancholy red-violet before fading back to gray. "...Bye, guys. I'll talk to you later."

"Of course ya will, squirt," Joey answered, smiling sadly. "And so will the doctors and the press."

"Shut up, Joey!" Ryou exclaimed, covering his face. "I don't want to think about it yet!"

"Have someone send in a checkerboard or somethin', squirt! Bird brains and I 're probably gonna get _really_ bored!" the blond added, right before the door shut behind the two Kaibas.

Ryou looked appalled. "'Bird brains?!' That is _so_ rude!"

Joey scowled at him. "And how do ya think 'Mr. Mutt' makes me feel, huh?!"

"I didn't do it to be mean!"

The blond opened his mouth to reply, then paused. "...The gang's on their way up. I can hear them."

Ryou sighed and covered his head with his pillow. "Ah, they won't let them in!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Joey answered, looking mildly amused. "If Yami or Téa have anything to say 'bout it."

"...Or Bakura, if he's with them," the albino added softly, uncovering his face.

Joey let out a bark of laughter that was more bark than laugh and slapped his thigh. "Oh, I wish I could see 'em try to stop 'im!"

"Oh, I hope he doesn't hurt anyone too badly..."

The blond waved it away. "He won't want to get on your bad side right after ya got back, Ryou. Don't worry about it."

-z-z-z-

Seto frowned slightly as he watched his brother moving from one side of the limo to the other, gazing out the windows as if he was expecting to see something. "Mokuba, what's wrong?"

The younger Kaiba didn't even pause in his crawling toward the opposite window. "Nothin'. Just worried about Joey and Ryou. After all, Joey's the one that took care of us."

"...Took care of you how?"

The raven-haired teen stiffened, hand clenching into a fist, before he crawled back to the other window. "He kept them from hurting us."

Seto felt a wave of anger welling up. "Who--"

"Seto, I'd rather not talk about it," Mokuba interjected, turning to look at him sadly. "I... It's just... too soon. Maybe I..."

"As long as you promise to talk to me at some point," the brunet replied, sighing, as he looked out the window next to him.

The car was silent for a while before Mokuba suddenly stated, "I want to be able to see Joey when I want, Seto. I know you don't like him, but he took care of me. ...I... would appreciate being able to thank him."

Seto sighed again. "...Just how exactly did the mutt 'protect' and 'take care of' you?" he asked skeptically.

His younger brother smiled sadly, but the pride he felt for Jounouchi still showed. "When they tried to beat Ryou and me, he'd get in front of us and wouldn't let them. He took our beatings for us." His smile slowly faded. "Since he made more trouble than Ryou and I, they kept calling him bad names like 'worthless mutt' and 'bastard dog.' ...And... they kept telling him that even if we escaped, he'd have nowhere to go, because they'd killed his father. So even when he gets out, he's going to be homeless. I wish he didn't have to go through anymore pain."

"...I see." Seconds later, the brunet's pocket began to vibrate and beep to the tune of a song that he didn't know nor did he care about. He pulled out a bright green cell phone and raised an eyebrow, then tossed it at Mokuba. "Your cell phone. I found it on the floor the morning that you-- ...I found it on the floor."

Mokuba blinked innocently but opened the phone. "Hello? ... Joey, what's wrong? ... Well, yeah, I mean-- ... Don't panic, Joey, it-- ... So who are you staying with?" He paused, then burst out into cheerful laughter. "He seriously said that?! Pft, he would!" He paused again, nodding slightly as he listened to what Seto guessed was Jounouchi ranting, before shrugging helplessly. "Sorry, Joey. I'd invite you to stay with us, but I'd like to spend some time with my brother. ... No, I understand. Okay. Bye."

"Who's he staying with?" the brunet asked, trying not to seem interested.

"Ryou. Apparently Bakura, Marik, and Malik managed to frighten the hospital staff into letting them go," Mokuba answered, the amusement he felt clear on his face. The amusement soon fell from his expression. "...Though his father is dead, and his mother doesn't want to take him. Now he's got to deal with Bakura on a twenty-four hour basis."

Seto snorted and turned his gaze back out the window. "That's something I'd never wish on _anyone._"

"Even Gozaburo?" Mokuba asked softly, unsure if the question would set his brother's anger off.

The brunet was silent for a few minutes. "...Do you think it would be possible for that crazy yami to drag Gozaburo's soul from hell so he could torture it?"

"Uh... Let's talk about pie," the younger teen answered, smiling nervously and rubbing the back of his head. "Do you think you could make an apple pie?"

"I thought we agreed that I'd never try to use the kitchen if you'd never try to fix the plumbing on your own again?"

"...Let's stop by a bakery and pick up an apple pie," Mokuba sighed, knowing that they were both hopeless in the kitchen unless it was coffee or cup-of-noodles.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Coming back to school wasn't fun for any of the trio. As soon as Joey and Ryou were sat down in the new seats they'd gotten courtesy of paranoia and a sympathetic teacher, they were swarmed by classmates, asked where they were, what happened, what else was there, where it was--

Ryou clutched onto the blond's sleeve and squeaked, brown eyes beginning to swirl with acid green. Immediately fearing that their secret might be exposed, Joey surged to his feet and snarled, slamming his hands on his desk. "_Get away from me!_"

...The silence coming from the room for the first hour was deafening.

-z-z-z-

Ryou turned his gaze out the window and sighed. 'Aside from Joey snarling at everyone this morning and the fact that he didn't eat much at lunch, today has actually been a pretty normal day,' he thought, zoning out of the lesson the teacher was giving. Now, normally he was very astute, but he believed he deserved a moment of daydreaming after what he'd been through!

Spying a flash of something metallic in the corner of his eye, he frowned and turned his head to gaze at it. His eyes widened at the sight that greeted him.

A man was across the street from the school. He was tall-- taller than even Kaiba-- and had short, cropped red hair. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a black vest over it and dark blue jeans with black combat boots covering his feet. On his left forearm was a barcode of sorts. He leaning against the fence behind him with his hands shoved in his pockets, appearing the poster boy of aloofness.

And his orange eyes were looking through the window _right at him._

Ryou gasped and grabbed Jounouchi's sleeve, eyes wide. "Joey-!" His eyes got a fraction wider as the man across the street drew a gun from his pocket.

Joey turned his head sharply. Though his eyes weren't as sharp as the albino's, his instincts were enough to make up for it. Snarling, he shoved the smaller teen to the ground. "_Get down!_"

And then there was panic and shattering glass and screams and running and trying to figure out what's going--

"Mokuba!" Ryou gasped, grabbing the blond's arm again. "If they've got someone after us, they're going to go after Mokuba, too!"

Joey glanced up at the window they were crouched under, then glanced back at his smaller friend. "I want you to get Kaiba to get to Mokuba's school; go with him. I'll go ahead and make sure the kid is safe. Meet me there. Okay?" When the albino nodded hesitantly, he smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, bird brains. You'll be fine." So saying, the teen stood, glanced around, then stepped onto the windowsill and jumped outside.

The last thing he heard as he plummeted to the ground from the forth story window was people screaming his name. But people weren't important. Getting to Mokuba was.

-z-z-z-

"So you're telling me that someone's going after my brother?" Seto snarled, storming toward the limo waiting for him.

Ryou ran to catch up to him. "That's exactly what I'm telling you!" he exclaimed worriedly. "Jounouchi told me to get you and have us meet him at Mokuba's school--"

"'Us?'" the brunet asked angrily, turning back to him. "What makes you think 'us?'"

The albino growled as the CEO tried to slam the door before he could get in and caught the handle before it could close. Yanking it back open, he leaned toward the teen and snarled, "I am _not_ in a very good mood right now, Kaiba. Someone just tried to kill Joey and me and someone _may_ be trying to kill Mokuba. Joey's the only one who really knows what's going on, so if he tells me that I'm supposed to come with you, _I'm coming with you._ Do you have a problem with that, Kaiba?" When the larger teen merely glared at him, he continued, "I'm glad that you understand, Kaiba."

He slid into the limo and sighed, trying to relax, then turned his gaze back on Kaiba. "I promise that some of this will be explained when he pick up Mokuba and Joey."

-z-z-z-

"I don't get it, Joey, what's going on?" the smaller teen asked in confusion, nearly tripping as the blond led him outside.

Joey dragged Mokuba to the limo that was just pulling up and glanced around suspiciously. "Just get in." He opened the limo door before the car could even stop moving and shoved the middle school student inside, then climbed in himself.

Seto fussed over his brother for a few minutes, not entirely believing that _yes,_ he was fine, then turned to Joey, scowling. "What the hell is going on?"

"I can't tell ya," the blond answered immediately, turning his gaze on Mokuba and Ryou for confirmation. ...Why was Ryou wincing like that?

"Um... I promised that some of it will be explained when we picked you up," the albino stated, smiling and rubbing the back of his head.

"RYOU! The whole point is we _can't_ tell anyone!" Joey exclaimed, obviously frustrated. "If we tell anyone, they're going to get hurt too! We can't just-- just go _dragging_ people into our mess and putting them in danger! That's just-- just-- AUGH!"

Seto raised an eyebrow, watching as the blond went into another tirade. Hmm. He'd never figured the other teen to be this amusing.

"Joey, Kaiba _needs_ to know! If Mokuba gets killed, he's going to want to know why, and he'll figure it out for himself and get himself in danger anyway!" Ryou exclaimed in exasperation.

Joey went silent. He'd never thought of that. "_...Damn it..._" He sighed loudly, then turned to the elder Kaiba and raised an eyebrow. "...We were kidnapped and genetically altered to become tools of mass destruction so we are now no longer completely human. We were supposed to be destroyed when the warehouse exploded but I got us out. Now people want to kill us to destroy all evidence of genetic experiments that are clearly against the law."

There was silence for a few minutes, in which Seto blinked at Joey and Ryou and Mokuba blinked at Seto. Finally, Seto sighed loudly in annoyance. "Well we're getting sucked into video games and attacked by Duel Monster cards that all want us dead for something we did in the past, might as well add something _scientific_ to put the icing on the cake!" he exclaimed angrily, then turned and glared out the window.

"...I think that went well," Mokuba stated, nodding solemnly. "I was actually expecting him to have the limo stopped and you two thrown out."

"...That's sort of what I was expecting, too," Ryou added, rubbing the back of his head.

Joey rolled his eyes and sighed again, then arched back against the seat so he was not quite sitting. "Whatever."

"Um... Joe... what are you doing?" the raven-haired teen asked, eyes widening as he watched his older friend unbutton his pants.

The blond grunted and shoved his pants down. "Do you know how much this hurts?! _Damn it!_"

Joey curled in on himself and whimpered as he felt a terrible pain in his lower back, just at the base of his spine, and twin pains atop his head. A few sickening rips were heard, causing the other occupants of the limo to cringe and stare at him in horror. He whimpered again, tears forming in his eyes, before sitting up, a frown gracing his normally smiling features.

He reached up and scratched behind one of his golden dog ears, sighing softly. "...Ouchies..." He sniffed softly, trying to force his tears away now that the pain was dulling. He frowned as he realized three pairs of wide, horrified eyes were still locked on him. "...What?"

"Did... your skin just... _rip?_" Ryou shrieked, cringing at just the thought.

"Uh, yeah. ...That's how they come out," the blond replied, reaching up and tugging on one of his ears for emphasis. "You guys were lucky; your transformations don't hurt. I was the one they _really_ experimented with. Different ways to transform, different genes, different _everything._ They figured since I was so rebellious, making my transformation painful would keep me docile and obedient. They thought you two would be cake." He frowned slightly. "I'd rather suffer a lot of pain for a minute than a little pain forever to keep them hidden." He quickly put on a grin, disliking the attention he was getting for being in so much pain. "Besides, you gotta admit, I'm adorable like this."

And the tense mood was instantly broken.

Mokuba rolled his eyes and kicked him in the shin playfully. "You wish, Joey. Pull your pants up."

"I can only pull them up so far before I have to stop for my tail!" Joey declared, pulling his pants all the way off. "Besides, I'm wearing my 'awesome' boxers. See?"

"...They look like regular boxers to me," Ryou stated, blinking innocently.

The blond grinned. "Aha! Gaze upon the glory that is 'awesome!'" And he turned, exposing a hole in his boxers through which his long, golden tail extended. "So I'm not running around half naked and I'm not in pain because I'm hiding it. Clever, ne?"

"...Use the term 'clever' loosely," Seto muttered, still glaring out the window. "So what do you now about these... scientists that are after you?"

Joey frowned in thought, pulling his shoes and socks off to show that his toenails were longer than normal and pointed, as were his fingernails. "Hmm... Well, they're not gonna quit until we're dead and our bodies are destroyed. They've got some people that actually listen to them with animal genetics. No matter how advanced the system, security can't stop them. They'll either bypass it by hacking or using their animal tributes to get inside. If we hide, they'll find us."

The three genetically altered teens watched the CEO silently as he mulled over this information, resting his chin in his hand. Mokuba had identified this look as the Look of Doom, because when Seto acquired it, someone was usually in trouble. ...But... what was he going to do and who was he going to do it _to?_

"...Mokuba, that old farmhouse you begged me to buy out in the country; what have you done with it?"

Mokuba frowned in confusion. "Um... I had it renovated and stuff, if that's what you mean. And the barn is renovated, too. Why?"

Seto's eyes glazed over in thought again. "So it's habitable now?"

"...Yes..."

Joey's eyes-- now an amber color with his tail and ears exposed-- grew wide in surprise. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

"If you're thinking that I'm going to have us all move into that farmhouse, then yes, I am thinking what you think I'm thinking," Seto replied, smirking.

The three smaller teens blinked at him, surprised, before Ryou softly asked, "'Us?' All of us?"

The brunet raised an eyebrow. "Mokuba would worry about you. Besides, I want to learn more about this, you, what they did to you. I'm entitled to know."

"You wanna take us _away_ from everyone, _away_ from the fancy shmancy security systems, and _away_ from all of the people who could protect us?!" Joey squawked, eyes widening. "Are you crazy?"

"From what I understand, they won't stop coming after you unless they _can't_ come after you. The only way they _can't_ come after you is if they're dead. Courts will understand a shooting a little better if we're far away from other people and protecting ourselves in a house that has no security system."

The limo continued on in silence for a while, everyone pondering the information just shared, before Ryou asked, "You have guns?"

Seto shrugged. "I have _a_ gun. I can buy more, but the police might get suspicious."

"I know where to go to buy guns without the police asking questions," Joey stated suddenly, making everyone look at him. He frowned. "I'm not happy to know, but I do. ...Sometimes... having been in a gang comes in handy."

Mokuba looked out the window to the mansion as they pulled up outside of it. "Let's talk about it over food, okay?"

-x-x-x-

"This... this is not food." Joey stared into the freezer, ears standing erect in shock. "This is a poor substitute." He slammed the freezer shut and opened the refrigerator, only to find a lot of processed foods and the like. There were only a few fresh vegetables. He squeaked and ran to the cupboards, ripping them open to find cup-of-noodles and canned food items. "_Oh my God!_ There's no food! You've got such a big kitchen, so why is there no food?! AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ryou watched Joey fall to the ground in a distraught heap, frowning, then turned to look at the Kaiba brothers, who just stared at the blond as if he'd grown another head. "...He... likes fresh food. I have to admit, though, he's got a point. Why is it that all you have is... this?" he asked, waving at the refrigerator and cupboards.

"Seto and I can't cook, and we don't want to hire another chef because the last one snooped through our stuff and sent it to the media," Mokuba explained, shrugging. "All we can do is microwave and boil water."

The blond let out a wail. "We're all going to _starve!_"

"Hmm. And I thought he ate everything," Seto muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"...I... found that that information was false the first night he stayed with us," Ryou answered, sighing. "He can cook, so I suggest that when we go to the farmhouse, you stock up on regular ingredients. ...He might just bake a bunch of confectionaries to keep busy, considering he'll get bored quite often."

"...He'll make someone a fine wife someday," the elder Kaiba stated, rolling his eyes, as he went for one of the cup-of-noodles.

Joey immediately stood and slapped the brunet's hand away from it. "No! I think I can salvage something decent!" When the taller teen merely glared at him, he snarled and pointed at the table. "You need _nourishment!_ Look at this! Look at this!" He grabbed one of the cup-of-noodles and waved it so Seto could see the nutrition facts. "_Shame_ on you! Go sit! I can _fix you!_"

Mokuba looked up at Ryou and tilted his head innocently as the blond forced his older brother into a chair at the nearby table. "You act as if you've been through this before."

"...Let's just say Bakura can't cook either and was living off of noodles and soy sauce. Joey went into a panic and wouldn't let me into my own kitchen as he... um... 'saved Bakura's soul from a fiery, processed food hell full of evil moldy food found in the backs of freezers and refrigerators that would eventually rip him apart in a moldy, gross fashion.' He 'fixed' Bakura, too."

"...Joey's weird," the younger teen sighed, then went to join his brother at the table. But at least they were getting _food_ now.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After getting filled with a decent meal and excusing himself, Kaiba made a few phone calls, and then they all went to bed, because Joey had said they needed to leave early if they wanted to get the guns unseen. Kaiba wasn't happy about having to take his brother with him—and Ryou, to an extent, because Ryou had already been through a lot as well, being shot at and all—but acquiesced to his request all the same. He didn't want to be caught unawares and unprepared.

The trio was surprised to see Seto pulling out his own car—a sleek black mustang—instead of ordering a limo, but decided not to ask questions; it did make sense, after all, seeing as they didn't want anyone to see them. The group was silent as they packed a few suitcases into the trunk. Once the car was moving, the only conversation was Joey giving Seto directions to where they could obtain guns.

Said blond was the only one _not_ surprised as they came to a halt outside a nice home in the middle of a nice neighborhood nearby, showing that the person was obviously well off. "This is the place," he stated, getting out of the car. Seto, Ryou, and Mokuba followed him silently, slightly anxious about meeting someone with lots of guns. Joey knocked on the door softly, yanking his hand back swiftly as the door jerked open. "_Shit!_"

A girl around nineteen years old blinked her large, innocent blue eyes at him, frowning, then tossed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder, showing that her hair had red streaks in it. "Joey." Her voice had a sort of American country ring to it.

Joey nodded to her. "Alisa."

The girl, now identified as Alisa, sighed and let her eyes travel over them slowly. "Quite a posse ya got there, Joey."

"Yeah."

"And what interestin' ears. Ya got a tail, too?"

"Yeah."

"Yer other friends freaks like you?"

"Yeah."

Ryou and Mokuba winced as she said 'freaks' and Seto let out a soft growl, glaring at her angrily. Mokuba was _not_ a freak! ...He couldn't vouch for Ryou and Joey, however. As far as he was concerned, on a 'freak' scale of one to ten, Ryou was at least an eight and Joey was a solid eleven.

Alisa stared at the blond for a moment longer, then reached out and slapped him across the face, scowling. "You _ass!_ D'ya know how worried I was when I found out ya were kidnapped?! When I found out yer father was killed?! An' then yer found alive and _no one calls me?!_" She grabbed onto one of his sensitive ears and dragged him into the house. "Get the hell in here!" She looked back at the other three boys and smiled kindly. "C'mon in, boys. I'll make ya some tea! Or cocoa, if ya prefer?"

"Cocoa, please!" Mokuba answered, bouncing into the house without a qualm.

"Mokuba-!" Seto hissed, scowling, as he walked in after him, leaving the albino to walk in last and shut the door.

Alisa dragged Joey over to her kitchen and sat him down at the table, striding over to the stove. She turned and smiled at the other boys. "Ya'll just go ahead an' sit now. Do ya'll want cocoa, or do some of ya want tea?"

"Cocoa will be fine," Ryou murmured, smiling at her nervously.

"Tea," Seto muttered, for some reason not wanting to possibly anger the strange girl.

"Joey, can ya even _have_ cocoa?" Alisa asked suddenly, frowning at him.

The blond shot her a glare. "Still human here, Alisa."

"Just checkin'. Wouldn't wanna accidentally kill my sweetie pie of a cousin with some chocolate!"

"I need guns."

The girl slammed her teakettle down on the stove a bit harder than necessary. "...Why?" When he didn't reply, she turned toward him, scowling. "I'm not givin' 'em to ya unless ya give me a good reason, Joseph Wheeler."

Joey rested his chin on his hand, frowning. "...I... People... that is..." He took a deep breath and heaved it back out in a sigh. "People want us dead."

Alisa tapped the her chin in thought, frowning, then turned a sharp glare on the other three boys, making them involuntarily flinch and shrink into their seats a little. "Yer in on this too, I see. This isn't gang related, is it?" Ryou and Mokuba quickly shook their heads in response. Her face slowly relaxed into an uneasy smile. "I see. So it has t' do with yer mutt ears and yer tail, huh?"

"Yeah."

"...I see." She sighed and went back to making tea and cocoa. "Which ones ya want, sweetie?"

"All of 'em. The big ones, the little ones, set me up for a blow out."

"Question." She turned back to them, holding four mugs. "Ya'll know how t' use a gun?"

"Seto does. I don't. He promised he'd let me learn when I turned fifteen," Mokuba answered, taking one of the mugs. "His aim's really good."

"Uh huh. And you?"

Ryou blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Um... No, sorry. I've only held a gun once. ...And I don't think that counts, because it was really Bakura holding it."

Alisa smiled. "Then ya'll 've gotta learn, don't ya? Joey'll teach ya, won't ya, Joey?"

Joey knew better than to disagree. "Yes'm."

"Good boy," she cooed, patting him on the head, before striding out of the kitchen. "Be right back with 'em."

Once sure she was out of earshot, Seto turned and raised an eyebrow. "Bipolar, maybe?"

The dog-eared boy shot him a dirty look and tightened his grip on the mug, making it creak under the pressure. "She's off her meds and her psychiatrist says she's _fine._"

"Well that makes me feel _so_ much better. How do we know she hasn't poisoned us?" Seto paused. "And why did she accept your ears and tail so quickly?"

"She's always thought of me as a puppy. Leave me alone, moneybags."

"Incomin'!"

Joey yelped as something slammed into the back of his chair, then turned and looked down, tilting his head, to find a duffle bag sitting on the floor behind him. He looked up at his cousin and scowled. "Whaja do that for, Alisa?"

Alisa smiled at him fondly. "It's all outta love, Joe." Her smile immediately disappeared. "_Email me._ Now finish your drinks and get out." She turned to leave. "I wanna let the dogs in. I was just about to do that when you knocked."

"'kay. We'll be done soon. You want me to let the dogs in for you so you can go to bed? It's almost..." Joey glanced at his watch. "Five."

She shook her head and sighed, waving slightly without turning around. "I sleep at first light and wake up four hours later. As you know, the sun doesn't rise for a bit yet." She turned momentarily to flash him a smirk. "And then the world is mine to manipulate as I wish. Been a while since the dogs have had fresh meat, though."

"...We'll be gone before you let them in."

"Email me," she repeated, before disappearing from sight.

"...What was that about dogs?" Ryou asked softly, disliking the uncomfortable silence.

Joey shrugged, staring into his mug of cocoa. "She's got a pack of wolves, a few dogs, and some wogs. Domesticated, of course. She saved the pack from being put down in America and brought them here with her two dogs. The pack stays out at night to do their business and stuff, and then she lets them in before she goes to bed so they can guard the place while she sleeps. She's sorta paranoid. Then she goes to work for the police as a profiler and tracker."

The albino nodded slightly. "I see."

"What's a 'wog?'" Mokuba asked, tilting his head innocently.

"A cross between a wolf and a dog," Seto answered, setting his mug down. "Let's go."

Mokuba and Ryou set their mugs down as well. The three boys got up to leave but turned in confusion when Joey failed to get up as well. "...Joey?" Ryou questioned softly, frowning.

The blond pulled at one of his ears silently, then turned a pathetic, watery look on them. "You know she's probably the only person in the world that would ever accept me like this with a smile and no questions other than why no one called her when they found me. You don't... you don't get someone who loves you so unconditionally all the time, you know?"

"...Come on, Joe," Ryou murmured, pulling the taller boy to his feet. "We should get going."

"Yeah. You're right," the blond answered quickly, wiping his eyes, then sniffed and grabbed the duffle bag full of firearms and—knowing his cousin—extra ammunition. "Let's go."

Just before they could get outside, though, Alisa quickly called out, "Joey, wait."

Joey turned in confusion only to meet a pair of brown eyes similar to his. He leaned back slightly, nose wrinkling in confusion as the smell of dog filled his senses. "Eh?"

"Take this. He barks whenever someone comes up," she ordered, forcing the gray puppy onto him.

Seto scowled. "We don't need another mutt!"

Alisa shot him a glare that made his own seem like a mild frown. "Did you not hear me? He _barks_ whenever someone _comes up._ He's your own little security system. ...'sides, he's got more wolf than dog in 'im." Her glare faded and she raised an eyebrow, turning to lift the puppy to meet Seto's gaze. "How can you say no to this face?"

"Quite easily. Let's go," he ordered to the other teens, only to blink as the large puppy was suddenly dumped in his arms.

"Bye now! Don't get killed!" Alisa shoved them out and slammed the door before he could protest.

"...O...kay..." Joey muttered, staring at the door in slight confusion.

Mokuba took the puppy from his stunned brother's arms. "I shall call you 'Freddy!'"

"You've got to admit, it's a cute security system," Ryou stated, following the younger teen to the car.

"...Okay," Joey repeated, walking after them.

And Seto wondered what he'd _ever_ done to deserve this.

-z-z-z-

"We need to buy some food for the house," Mokuba pointed out, smiling as he played with his new puppy. "We don't have any food."

Seto rolled his eyes and sighed. "I know. We'll drop by a supermarket on the way there."

Joey watched the rising sun silently, still in a slightly melancholy mood, before he got an alarmed expression and turned in his seat to face the raven-haired teen. "Mokuba, let me borrow your cell phone."

"Um... Okay."

"Can't believe I forgot to ask—" the blond muttered, punching in a number, before starting to bring it to his ear.

He didn't even have a chance to get it there before a sharp voice from the other line barked, _"WHAT?!"_ Everyone could hear the irritation in that voice.

"Does Freddy need a special kind of food?" Joey asked, shrugging off the annoyed outburst; after all, his cousin probably wanted to go to bed now. "Sorry, I just remembered. ... Isn't that a little expensive? ... What do you mean he's a growing boy and eats just like me?! ... I know an insult when I hear one!" the blond shouted, scowling. "Whatta ya mean that's the only thing he can have!? There's gotta be some _generic_ kind of— ... Oh." He winced and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I didn't know. ...Yeah. I love you too. Sleep well. ... Bye."

When the blond finally shut the door, Ryou leaned around the seat to see his face. "What did she say?"

Joey groaned and rolled his eyes, tossing the phone back to its owner carelessly. "She says he's gotta have this mash crap that she used to make for me whenever I got sick, 'cause he's got some sort of deficiency or something. Twice a day, everyday, until she comes, gives him a check-up, and decides which brand he'll be able to eat." He scowled. "She's such a bitch sometimes."

"What's the mash crap made out of?" Mokuba asked, tilting his head as Freddy decided to lay down for a nap.

"It's got lots of vegetables, a few protein things... sometimes eggs, and cinnamon. Tastes gross." the blond replied, closing his eyes. "Well, it's gross but it works. I was always better a few hours after she fed it to me." His eyebrows furrowed together slightly. "Mixing food for a dog... never thought I'd see the day."

"Must be nice to be doing something for your own kind, mutt."

Joey sat up straight and turned to glare at him, opening his mouth to reply, but Ryou beat him to it. "That's Mr. Mutt to you, Kaiba."

Mokuba and Joey frowned at him, blinking in shock, before Mokuba burst out laughing and Joey began shouting that he was _not_ a mutt, thank you very much, but a human with a string of pedigree golden retriever in his DNA. Ryou replied that that certain string of dog DNA among his human ones made him a mutt; a mixture of human and dog. In which case Joey snarled and tried to jump the albino, forgetting that he was strapped into his seat.

And Seto wondered what he'd _ever_ done to deserve this again.

-z-z-z-

Joey blinked and raised an eyebrow. "...Do you... even know what you're doing?"

Seto raised an eyebrow as well and looked down at the pear in his hand. "It's a pear. You pick it up and put it in a bag."

"Don't be stupid. That one's bruised, and way too ripe," the blond explained, taking the fruit from his hand and placing it back with the others. He inspected the pears for a few seconds before picking out another one. "Feel this one. It's firm, see? And there aren't any bruises on it. That other pear wouldn't have lasted long." He looked it over again, then dropped it into the plastic bag the elder Kaiba was still holding. "Now you pick one."

The brunet frowned and gazed at the pears as if they were alien heads. They were _pears,_ damn it! What did it matter if it was bruised or not?

"They're sort of like an old married couple, aren't they?" Ryou commented, peeking out from the cereal aisle at the odd pair picking out produce.

Mokuba snuck a peek at them as well. "Yeah, I've always thought that. You know, I think that Seto really likes Joey, he just doesn't want to show it because he's afraid of being rejected." His lips curved into a patent Kaiba smirk. "I say we give them a push."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Ryou asked in confusion.

"...Think of a plan Bakura would come up with."

The albino frowned and crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Hmm... Something Bakura would come up with..." He gazed at the floor for a few minutes, then looked back at the raven-haired teen. "He'd probably say something along the lines of, 'Just get them to fuck and leave the rest up to them.'"

"Great! ...Now how do we get them to do that?" Mokuba asked, frowning.

"It's a fucking _pineapple,_ Wheeler!"

Both Ryou and Mokuba turned sharply at the sound of Seto's irate exclamation before Mokuba whispered, "Is there anything to get to make them have sex?"

"Well, there are aphrodisiacs, but I don't think your brother and Joey would appreciate it," Ryou replied, also in a whisper.

"Well, tough shit."

"I _know_ it's a pineapple, _Kaiba._ I want you to pick one!"

"...Where do we find aphrodisiacs?" Mokuba asked softly, looking up at the older teen.

Ryou blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Um... the pharmacy?"

"I'm not _eating_ it! I _hate_ pineapple!"

"Let's go."

"_I don't care if you don't like it!_"

"_Wheeler, I'm going to—_"

"Go help your brother pick out cereal!" Joey finally screamed, giving the elder Kaiba a shove toward the cereal aisle. "Go! Go! _Go!_ You're doing nothing but pissing me off!" He shot the brunet a glare that would have Satan shaking in his boots. "_I'll_ get the produce. _You_ get the coffee and whatever else it is you eat, and we'll meat up in the meats and dairy section. Is that okay with you?"

Seto briefly thought about saying no, but then he'd have to deal with the blond even longer, so he simply retreated to the cereal aisle just as Ryou and Mokuba came from the other end.

-z-z-z-

"...What is that?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow as the 'mutt' set a tube of something on the conveyor belt that the cashier was quickly retrieving items from and scanning.

Joey raised an eyebrow. "It's lube. Why? Never seen it before?"

"Why am I _buying_ it?"

Both Ryou and Mokuba tilted their heads in surprise. Seriously. _Why_ was Joey getting lube? ...What was he planning?

"A guy's got needs, okay?" the blond snapped, placing his hands on his hips. "Leave me alone."

"But what—" Mokuba began, but Joey sent him a scathing glare clearly stating, _'Drop it.'_ He did so.

"Why do _I_ have to pay—" Seto began as well, but the blond sent his glare at him instead. He dropped it as well. "...Fine."

"_Ack!_ No! Cans and fruit do _not_ go in the same bag! Get away from those, you loony!"

Ryou raised an eyebrow as the blond nearly attacked the boy bagging their groceries, then took his place in unloading the shopping cart, deciding that Joey would probably _maul_ Seto or Mokuba, who they'd discovered were grocery-challenged. "Calm down, Mr. Mutt. Your pomegranates are going to be fine."

"I'll Mr. Mutt _your_ pomegranates!" Joey snapped, sending him a sharp glare, before going back to bagging their groceries.

And Seto and Mokuba wondered why they'd _ever_ thought of Joey as a happy-go-lucky moron, because obviously, he was smarter than he let on and he cared a lot for their health. Happy-go-lucky morons did not care for other people's health and they were _not_ smarter than they let on.

The only question they had to be answered _now_ was, _why_ did Joey act like a happy-go-lucky moron and hide how smart he was?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The farmhouse was really a lovely little thing. Well, perhaps not so 'little' as 'comfy.' It had two stories. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen/dining room, and a game room (because hello, it was Mokuba who'd gotten the house), a laundry room, and a garage that could be made into another bedroom. It was the perfect size for a small family.

A family made up of a cranky CEO, a dog-boy, a bird-boy, a wog puppy, and the youngest teen member of the family who just _had_ to have Pixie Stix on the way there.

"Mokuba, please calm down," Ryou begged, just barely catching what looked like an expensive vase as the smaller boy ran by it and knocked it off its stand.

Joey yelped as a black blur rushed past him on his way out of the kitchen from putting the groceries, hand clutching his chest. "Sweet mother of-!"

Freddy was just barely able to keep up with Mokuba, panting and exhausted but still wanting to play. It was obvious, however, that the puppy was going to fall _way_ before the sugar-high teen ever was.

Seto reached out and grabbed Mokuba's shirt, sighing as he passed into the kitchen. "Mokie, for the love of God, calm down before your heart pops. Freddy needs rest and you're going to hit the floor eventually." He twisted his brother around and shoved him toward the couch. "Sit. Stay. _Calm down._"

"You guys are no fun!" Mokuba complained, crossing his arms and huffing.

"...If... you guys are hungry, I made sandwiches," Joey stated finally, then turned and walked back into the kitchen. "Fuck, and I thought we could live here in _peace_ for a while."

"Oh, that's actually _possible?_ I mean, considering we have guns in every nook and cranny and you've got _dog ears_ sprouting out of your head, if we're even considered just slightly_ abnormal,_ we're pretty lucky," Seto snapped, stalking after him.

Joey rolled his eyes and started washing the things he'd used to make sandwiches. "_Normal_ is abnormal. Besides, you don't need to be normal to have peace. And besides, Alisa has guns stored all over her house and _she_ lives in peace."

"I don't think you should be using your cousin as an example, Joey," Ryou pointed out, also sitting at the table where a platter of ham and roast beef sandwiches were waiting to be eaten. "She seems slightly eccentric to me."

"Slightly eccentric? She's a fucking loon," the blond replied, shrugging, before turning to glare out the door into the living room. "_MOKUBA! CAME EAT LUNCH!_"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Jeez, keep your pants on, Joey." Mokuba walked into the kitchen and frowned as he made his way toward his seat. "On second thought, don't. You've got nice legs."

Seto spit out the water he'd been drinking at that moment, spraying Ryou with water. "_Hey!_ Ew, gross!" Ryou stood and looked down at his person, eyes narrowing in distaste. "I wonder if 'rude jerk' is contagious..."

Joey raised an eyebrow as the brunet continued hacking and coughing on the water he'd choked on. "Oh, come on. You should have been expecting this to happen eventually. Face it, Kaiba, your kid brother's finally listening to his hormones." He shot the younger Kaiba a sharp look. "But if ya think I'd ever get with you, you're delusional. You're way too young for me."

Mokuba shrugged and took a bite out of his sandwich as if nothing had happened. "Okay."

"_Never,_" Seto stated, glaring at his brother. "_Never_ say anything like that _again._"

"Okay."

And the meal continued like they were all just a normal, happy family. ...Well, as normal as you can be with Mokuba and Joey fighting over the last sandwich, Seto and Ryou cutting it in half and each walking away with a piece of it, and the aforementioned fighting teens wailing in dismay when, finally just deciding to see who could grab the sandwich first, they found the said sandwich was missing.

-x-x-x-

"I don't like this."

"Don't be a pussy, Nadine. You want to die? No? Then we have to kill them!"

Nadine crossed her arms, her electric purple eyes narrowing. Her brother had a point. She did not want to die. The only way they could continue living was to do as they were told, and that included killing Joey Wheeler, Ryou Bakura, Mokuba Kaiba, and _now_ Seto Kaiba and Alisa Wheeler. Then they could live in peace.

"...Kai... I... want to..."

Kai turned his head, frowning. He may have been mean and a little coarse to his sister, but when she said 'Kai, I want,' it was a big thing. She didn't _say_ she wanted things. The last time she's said 'Kai, I want' to him, she had said she wanted to go to the beach for her birthday, and she _really_ wanted it. She did not _ask_ for petty things, though it was obvious she'd like them sometimes. He'd managed to get permission for them to go to the beach for an hour, and she'd been _so_ happy— He wanted to make her happy again, because since they'd been experimented on, she'd only smiled three times; once at the beach, once when he managed to sneak her a bowl of pudding, and once when she gave him the orange cuff for his ear and he'd been ecstatic.

She deserved it, suffering in silence when she was beaten or yelled at, usually taking the blame for a mistake that _he'd_ made.

"What is it, Nadie?" he asked softly, brushing a few stray strands of her black, electric purple-streaked hair out of her expressive eyes.

"I... w-want..." She looked down at her feet and sighed, tears filling her eyes. "W-when this... is all _over..._ I want..." She looked back up at him pleadingly. "...A puppy."

Kai couldn't help it; he hissed, his orange cat ears folding back and his eyes narrowing. "A _puppy?_"

Nadine looked away from him immediately, her black, purple tipped wolf ears folding back in fear and despair. "I'm sorry. I'll never ask for anything again. Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, I just—" the red-head began, but his sister began walking, gazing at the little farmhouse longingly. He frowned as she sat on the fence and just gazed through the window, then walked up beside her and leaned his arms on the fence. "...Nadine...? What are you thinking about?"

"We could be a family. Just like them," she whispered, watching as Mokuba and Joey both tackled Ryou onto the couch and began to tickle him. "...We could be normal."

Kai smiled wryly and gave one of her ears a playful tug. "Right. _Normal._"

"Well, aside from the ears and tails, I mean," she corrected, looking up at the stars. "And the barcodes. Someone's going to notice them."

The cat-man smiled bitterly. "Yeah. Aside from that."

They were silent for a few minutes, watching the spectacle as Seto came in and finally shouted at them to shut up because he was _trying_ to get some _work_ done. After he stormed out of the room again, the three genetically altered teens began laughing hysterically. Eventually, however, they finally did what the two siblings were waiting for; they went to bed. Even Seto's light had gone out, and he was quite well known for working long nights.

Kai glanced at his watch. "Hmm. Only half past one. I believe tonight is a record for Mr. Kaiba."

"Indeed," Nadine replied, smiling. Then, she slipped up to the door noiselessly and began to break in, as was her job when it came to them both carrying out one of their orders.

Kai may have been the one with feline qualities, but Nadine had had her stealth skills _before_ they were ever experimented on. He didn't like having his baby sister going in first, but since she was more skilled in these types of things, he didn't have a penny to bargain with, figuratively speaking. Once he could tell she was in the house and unharmed, he slipped in the door as well and, taking a quick sniff at the air, traveled in the same direction she had.

-x-x-x-

Joey twisted one of his ears lazily as he heard his door open, then sighed loudly as he hooked his fingers around the gun under his pillow. Really now; did these people believe he was an idiot after all he'd said and done at the lab?

Hearing nearly silent footsteps—which would have been imperceptible to a human—come to a stop next to his bed, he instantly turned, pointing his handgun into startled, innocent purple eyes. "I swear to God if you take one more step— ...Nadine?" He frowned but did not pull back his gun, eyes narrowing. "So _you're_ the one they're sending after us?"

Nadine had the grace to look ashamed of herself and her actions. "...Sorry..."

"And knowing your brother, you're not here alone," the blond added bitterly. He twisted his ear as he heard a yelp from Seto's room, then shouted, "Kai, if you do anything to hurt my friends, I _swear_ I'll blow your sister's brains out!" He sat up and reached out to grab the wolf-girl's arm, her flinch and grimace not going unnoticed. "Come 'ere."

She whimpered as he yanked her onto his lap and closed her eyes as the barrel of the gun was put to her temple. "I'm sorry, Joey, I didn't want to—"

"I know ya didn't, Nadie..." he answered, sighing. He looked up as Kai stormed into the room and scowled, golden eyes narrowing. "Kai."

"You get your fucking hands off my sister, you good for nothing—" Kai began, ready to begin a rampage, but feeling a hand on his shoulder, he winced and let out a yelp as he was thrown to the ground.

Seto aimed his gun directly at the feline's head, eyes narrowing. "I would have thought that we'd get at least _one_ day before you people started coming to kill us in our sleep."

Joey narrowed his eyes as well as the red-head let out a snarl. "Why did you do it, Kai? You helped me protect everyone at the lab. Tell me." He made a point of pushing his gun closer to Nadine's head.

"_Dah!_ I'll tell you, just don't hurt Nadie!" he exclaimed quickly, reaching his clawed hand out as if to attempt to reach her. "She didn't do anything wrong!"

"So _tell me._"

Kai looked ready to start bawling when Nadine winced and shuddered. "If I don't do what they say, they'll kill Nadie! I can't let them do that! I promised Ma and Pap that I'd take care of her!"

Despite the gun to her head, Nadine smiled sadly. "He's very good at keeping his promises. 'nd they told me that if I didn't do what they said, they'd hurt Kai. Not _kill_ him, just hurt him. ...Kai's always mean when he's in pain."

"I _know,_" Joey agreed, pulling the gun away from her head. "I'd go as far as to say either 'wounded, angry bull' mean, or 'PMSing seventeen-year-old during finals week' mean."

Even Seto winced at the latter comparison. _No one_ messed with girls during finals week, for fear they'd be ripped apart; even the _teachers_ refused to make waves with them unless they really had to.

"...I don't get it," Nadine stated softly, frowning.

Kai held out his arms and pulled her into a hug. "That's a good thing, Nadie. I promise."

"So what are we going to do with them?" the blond asked, looking up at the owner of the house.

Seto groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. "_Christ,_ I don't _care_ anymore! Let them stay here! I'm never going to have peace and quite again for as long as I live!"

"...Well, that means they need somewhere to sleep," Joey stated softly, frowning in thought. "Nadine could stay in here with me—"

And suddenly the blond and brunet found themselves booted out of the room with angry, orange eyes glaring at him from a crack in the doorway. "_Like hell she will!_"

And the door slammed shut to Nadine's protest of, "_Kai!_ You could have hurt them!"

"...I'll sleep on the couch," Joey muttered, trudging to the living room. "Sweet mother of _God_ I got off lucky for suggesting that."

"Lucky?" Seto asked, raising and eyebrow. "We were both just _literally_ kicked out of 'your' room."

The blond sighed and turned back to him, a wry smile coming to his face. "As protective as you are of Mokuba and as protective I am of Serenity, he's twice as protective as both of us put together. He's in the same boat as you; she's his only living relative. I guess he's so protective of her because she's mostly a pacifist. She _will not_ defend herself if she's attacked."

"Hmph. No wonder he's so protective," the teenage CEO stated, shrugging, then frowned as he saw something on the blond's arm. "What's that?"

Joey looked down at his arm in confusion, then raised an eyebrow and held it out for him to see the barcode tattooed onto his forearm. "Oh, you mean this? They scanned this whenever they wanted my information. Mokuba and Ryou have one too. We're not the only experiments. ...It's just that..." His voice suddenly got softer as he turned his gaze on the ground. "...Most of the others died in the explosion."

Seto frowned but decided not to comment on it. "...Goodnight, mutt."

He was suddenly too tired to argue. He simply nodded and fell onto the couch. "Goodnight, moneybags." He paused, then stated, "'nd don't wake up Kai in the morning. He's got cat genes. He likes his sleep."

"Alright."

Joey listened to the soft footsteps leading away from the room, then strained to hear what was going on in his room. There was groaning—Kai always groaned when he was falling asleep, because like him, his changes hurt, but he always got pains when he relaxed, as well—and then there was a soft whimper; Nadine was snuggling up to him. Twin sighs—that meant they were both finally—finally!—settling down, relaxing, and falling to sleep.

He knew that Nadine would probably be awake quite some time before he was and would be waiting beside him to do whatever he asked of her. Kai would be asleep way past Mokuba and probably wouldn't wake until lunch, when his baby sister finally marched into the room and, in one action that seemed much too rough and—dare he say it?—_mean_ for her, ripped the blankets from around him, snarling to get into the kitchen and eat before she ripped his tail out and used it as his noose.

Joey smiled. Thank God for Nadine. She was timid, and she was hesitant, but she sure as hell could get annoyed when it came to someone's well-being.

Seto would be no match for her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Just as he'd suspected, Joey found Nadine sitting on the floor beside the couch, waiting for him to wake up. He yawned and stretched lazily, then turned and smiled at her, eyes still slightly glazed from sleep. "How long have you been up, Nadie?"

"Only since five. I slept in." The girl's wolf ears twitched anxiously. "That's good, right?"

His smile grew slightly. "It's fantastic, considering you're usually up at four. I'm surprised moneybags isn't up yet." The blond raised an eyebrow. "Help me make breakfast?"

Nadine smiled back at him, looking like the cheery twelve-year-old she should be instead of the monster she'd been made into. "I'd love to." She turned her head and frowned as she heard typing in Seto's room, then looked back at the teen and tilted her head. "Does he always get up so early?"

"'fraid so. Let's make breakfast so that everyone can eat."

"Okay."

As much as most people hated to admit it—especially Kai—aside from Nadine's damnable naïveté, the wolf-girl was quite mature for her age. Then again, being homeless could do that to people. Kai had done his best to protect her, but she had seen too much, watched too much, and it had taken a toll on her psyche. Joey found this terribly endearing.

"I can't wait to watch moneybags try and skip lunch," Joey muttered, smirking.

Nadine turned toward him and frowned, ears flying up in concern. "Kaiba doesn't eat lunch? That's horrible! Everyone needs the proper amount of nourishment!"

"Nadie, I really don't think—"

"Oh shut up, Joey, you knew I was gonna do this the second you opened your big fat mouth."

"...This is true."

Nadine frowned and turned toward the doorway after placing a platter of bacon and eggs on the table. "...Should we... call them?"

"_GUYS! FOOD!_" Joey shouted, causing the wolf girl to jump. She hid behind him quickly as she heard feet pounding down the stairs. He chuckled and patted her on the head. "Easy, Nadie. It's just Mokuba and Ryou."

"...Oh," she answered softly, hesitantly stepping out from behind him as the aforementioned boys rushed in and sat at the table. "I see." She squealed when Freddy came waddling in and immediately scooped him into her arms. "Puppy!"

Seto followed the others at a more... _dignified_ pace. He nodded at Nadine once before taking his seat at the table as well. "Morning."

"Morning, big brother!" Mokuba chirped, smiling, before once again digging into his food.

Joey dragged the poor wolf girl to sit next to him at the table as well. Ryou looked at her in surprise, then smiled. "Hello, Nadie. I thought you and Kai-?"

"No," she cut off, smiling. "No. We got out."

"I see. So where—"

"He stole Joey's room. I slept with him."

"That explains the shouting I heard earlier then."

And then breakfast was a silent affair. There was an occasional question—like Mokuba asking Nadine where they'd been hiding, or Joey asking Ryou why the hell if he'd heard them didn't he get up—but other than that, it was quite and peaceful.

Until a rather embarrassing question was asked. _Loudly._ "Hey, dog breath, where's the lube?" The whole table turned to see Kai leaning in the doorway, looking groggy and only wearing a pair of pants. He scowled when the blond failed to answer. "I'm serious. Where's the lube?"

"It's in the bedside table drawer. Jeez," Joey muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, just _what_ the hell are you using the lube for?" Seto asked in annoyance, scowling. "It's got to be for _something_ important if both of you are making such a big deal of it!"

Kai and Joey both turned intense gazes on the younger two people in the kitchen. Mokuba sighed. "Mokuba, Nadie, could you leave the room for a second?" he asked sarcastically, then grabbed Nadine's hand and pulled her out of the kitchen. "Come on, Nadie, let's play Super Mario."

"But I've got to do the dishes-!" Nadine exclaimed, before she was whipped up the stairs and out of sight, Freddy bouncing along behind them and yapping happily.

Kai paused, waiting until he heard the distinct sound of a Nintendo64 playing, before turning his gaze on the teen CEO and sighing loudly. "I would have _thought_ that that would be obvious, Kaiba. ...Unless dog breath didn't tell you?"

"No. He told me to drop it," Seto replied, frowning and crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat. He shot Joey a small glare and added, "_After_ he told me 'a guy has needs,' which I was already _quite_ aware of, thank you."

"Whatever." The cat man waved it away. "All you really need to know is that dogs and cats are horny animals. We—"

"Please wait for me to leave before you continue!" Ryou exclaimed, blushing bright red as he ran to follow Mokuba and Nadine up the stairs.

Kai looked after him affectionately. "Such an innocent little thing, isn't he?"

"...Whatever." Joey sighed and turned his gaze from Kai to Seto, looking annoyed. "You know how dogs hump anything when they're excited and cats are really territorial and have lots of females at their beck and call?" When the brunet nodded, he sighed again. "Well, that horniness was transferred to us in the dog and cat genes. We need lube when we're feeling submissive and horny."

"Ah, no, that's just you," Kai cut in, smirking. "_I_ don't do submissive. I just don't like jacking off without some lube; it's not as stimulating otherwise."

The blond blinked, then looked down at his plate, sighing again. "This conversation has taken an awkward and embarrassing turn. I don't like it."

"Hey, you're the one that said the lube was for when you're feeling submissive, not me," the redhead replied, laughing, before he turned and went to the dog-boy's room to get the lube.

Joey shot the brunet a glare. "Say nothing or I'll sick Kai on you."

Seto smirked. "No offense, but he doesn't seem to want to do anything for you."

"You'd be surprised what a little white lie can do," the blond replied, smirking as well. "I mean, if I just _happen_ to mention to Kai that you've been putting moves on his little sister—"

"I'm at least five years older than her, you pervert!"

"...So?"

-z-z-z-

Later that day the happy little family found out that you do _not_ shoot guns without warning Kai first. It was a lesson learned painfully by way of said redhead chasing Joey around, trying to scratch his eyes out as he went absolutely ballistic. This was closely followed by the feline shrieking swear words that could make a sailor blush (not to mention his darling little sister, Mokuba, and Ryou) and an angry—no, let's call it _furious—_but no less pointless time of throwing inanimate objects at each other.

It was decided that from then on, Kai would be informed about shooting practice beforehand.

Joey had offered Nadine the opportunity to learn to shoot as well, but was answered by Kai saying, "Why the _hell_ would she ever need to know that?! What's wrong with you!? She's a little girl! She's twelve! Get away from her, you innocence-killing, soul-shredding cock-sucker!"

This had started an argument that once again ended with the two screaming and throwing things at each other.

Seto eventually came out, adding to the fire of anger his own annoyance that he couldn't work in peace. "What the hell do I have to do to get a little _quiet_ out of you guys?!"

"Mokuba, is your brother going to die?" Nadine whispered anxiously, leaning toward the raven-haired teen.

Mokuba shrugged helplessly. "I hope not, but when it comes to Kai and Joey, well... It's every man for himself."

"...Let's go inside," Ryou ordered, ushering the two younger children toward the house. Spying Freddy staring at the three older boys in awe, he quickly scooped the wog up and hurried after them. "They can settle their... 'disputes' in peace and we'll come back out when they're finished."

Nadine didn't look so sure about leaving her older brother alone, considering he had the tendency of getting violent when he was angry. "I don't know, Ryou..."

"Trust me, it's in our best interest to let them just duke it out."

Once inside, Mokuba had one of the most _brilliant_ ideas. "Ryou! We can get Nadine and Kai in on our scheme! I mean, who knows how to trick people better than Nadine and Kai!?"

As Nadine blinked at them innocently, Ryou sighed. "I don't know if that's the best idea. Kai isn't exactly what I'd call... helpful."

"What do you want our help for?" Nadine asked, ears twitching hopefully. "I'd love to help! ...And I can make Kai help you guys too, without _too_ much fuss."

"Well, actually—" the albino began, knowing damn well that Kai would kill him for not asking him before he mentioned anything to his little sister.

"We want to get Seto and Joey together but the only way we really have an idea how to is to get them have sex with each other and then work it out from there," Mokuba explained, totally ignoring the older boy.

The wolf-girl frowned slightly, eyebrows furrowing together in thought. "How do you get two people to have sex with each other when they both hate each other?"

"Well, we bought some aphrodisiacs at the store when we went grocery shopping, but we haven't had a chance to use them yet because Joey's been making all of the food; you're the only other person he's allowed to cook so far."

"Oh. Well, I'll have to ask Kai, but I'm sure he'll say that it's okay."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? I mean, your brother is rather unpredictable and... _mean_ to actually know how he'll answer you."

Nadine looked up at him innocently, then smiled. "I'll just tell him that it's underhanded and he likes things that are underhanded. He's actually not very unpredictable. He says yes when it's amusing and he says no just to annoy or protect me." She tilted her head. "He does the same to all of you."

The albino sighed but chose not to argue. "_Fine._ We'll ask him when he comes in."

-z-z-z-

"No. _No. NO._ I absolutely forbid it," Kai stated, scowling. "There will be no use of aphrodisiacs in this house as long as _I'm_ calling the shots of you squirts!"

Mokuba scowled and crossed his arms, sighing loudly. "You can only boss around Nadine, Kai. Besides, you have to admit, both Seto and Joey need to get laid."

Ryou didn't comment that it didn't necessarily mean they had to get laid by each other. He found it to be easier when he just nodded.

The redhead sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "...And _how_ do you know that getting them to have sex will make them get together?"

"We don't!" Nadine answered cheerfully. "Come _on,_ Kai! It's for Joey!" At this, she clasped her hands together and gave him the biggest, cutest puppy-dog eyes that Mokuba and Ryou had ever seen. "Please? You said yourself that you just want Joey happy! Well, to be happy he's going to need a significant other!"

"Who says it's got to be Kaiba?" Kai sighed, frowning, then glanced at Mokuba. "The older one, anyway."

"...You know what, that's a good question. If it's truly not meant to be, they'll just peg it to a one night stand. Okay?" Mokuba offered, placing his hands on his hips.

The feline sighed but held his hand out to shake. "Fine. But you better do it soon; I _know_ those bastards are going to be sending more people after us soon."

"Sure! You can do it tonight, can't you, Nadie?" the raven-haired teen asked, turning toward her.

She blushed a little bit but nodded nonetheless. "Sure."

-z-z-z-

"Someone is going to have to kill those little brats."

"Which ones? Nadine and Kai or the other tramps?"

"All of them. They all need to be killed. Call Sniper. We'll have him take care of the little monstrosities."

A pair of deceptive blue eyes narrowed. Alisa glanced at the computer she was using and clicked her tongue in distaste. "Tch, these morons can't even tell they've been bugged." She glanced at the large male wolf strewn across her bed. "Well, we can't have these morons killing our adorable little Joseph, now, can we?"

The wolf tilted his head. What the hell did she expect him to do? Answer her in human?

"I think it's time we take a trip out to the Kaiba farmhouse. They might be interested to know they've become so important that a famous hit man has been hired to kill them."

Again, did she _expect_ him to answer?


	6. Chapter 6

_Warning: This chapter contains a lemon. And not only that, but it's not even well-written. So yeah… Please forgive the crappiness. I know it sucks, but it had to be done._

Chapter 6

Nadine wasn't sure what drove her to help her friends get Joey and Seto to have sex—Joey was like a big brother to her, she would never hurt him—but she believed it was for the best. She comforted herself knowing that if it had _really_ been a bad idea, Kai would have nixed it immediately and stood by his decision. After all, he viewed the blond as a younger brother, despite all of the arguments and silly yet affectionate insulting names.

So slipping the ground up aphrodisiacs into both Joey's and Seto's food didn't weigh _too_ heavily on her conscience.

"So now that I've done it, what do we do?" Nadine asked, fifteen minutes after dinner was over.

Kai grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the room they'd taken over. "_We_ make ourselves scarce so that Joey doesn't turn on _us._ Seriously; I've never seen a dog as horny as he is." He turned and shot Mokuba and Ryou a glare. "You two lock yourselves in your rooms, too. In fact, lock yourselves into the same room so you can protect each other if he gets _too_ out of hand. I'll stop him if I have to, but _only_ if I have to. Come on, Nadie. Ryou, Mokuba, you go to a room now too."

"Will he really get that bad?" Mokuba asked, frowning.

Ryou grabbed the younger teen's wrist and dragged him toward the stairs, Freddy tucked under his other arm securely. "Joey's always been a bit of a pervert, Mokuba. Have you seen his porn collection?"

"No."

"Good. It's huge. And we just gave him a larger-than-normal dose of aphrodisiacs. We need to be out of sight if we don't want to be mauled."

-z-z-z-

Joey let his arms relax and heaved a sigh, tail curling underneath him anxiously. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm normally not this hot…" He reached up and pushed some hair out of his eyes, sighing again. "…God… I hope Kai will let me in to get the lube real quick…" He frowned in thought. "I don't know why I'm getting horny _now,_ of all times… Nothing kinky about doing the dishes…"

He bit his bottom lip, eyes beginning to glaze over, as he looked over his shoulder toward the door to his room. Dropping the plate he was holding back into the dish water, he made his way over to his door, breath becoming heavier with every step he took. He fell to his knees just outside the door and groaned, tears forming in his eyes.

"…It hurts so bad… Oh, God… It hurts so _bad_…" He licked his dry lips tiredly, lifting a hand to weakly claw at the door. "…Kai… Help me…"

"What's wrong, mutt?"

Joey turned and frowned, eyes watering as he looked up at the elder Kaiba. "…Kaiba…"

Seto raised an eyebrow as the blond began to crawl toward him and took an unconscious step backward. "Mutt?"

"…Help me…" The blond looked up at him pitifully, ears folding back to show his anxiety and submission. "Please?"

"How?" The brunet took another step backward as Joey bowed his head, tail beginning to curl under him against his stomach. He didn't want to admit it, but seeing the normally boisterous teen like this was pleasant. …And a certain part of his anatomy could attest to that. "What's wrong?"

Joey whimpered and nuzzled the brunet's leg weakly. "So hot… Make it go 'way."

"…Hot…?" Seto frowned and rested a hand between the blond's ears. "All over?"

The canine-like teen raised his head slowly, whimpering. "No. Just… like I… need relief."

"Relief?" The CEO raised an eyebrow. "Relief from what?"

"The heat, stupid!" Joey exclaimed, scowling at him, before his eyes widened in realization. "…I need lube. Now."

"It's in your room," Seto stated, scowling. "Fight Kai for it and stop bothering _me._"

"He won't let me in! I need something now!" The blond's eyes began to glaze over again. "…Seto…"

The brunet scowled at him. "I never gave you permission to use my given name, mutt."

Joey whined slightly and pawed at his thigh. "…Master…"

Seto blushed lightly and took a step back quickly. "What the hell are you doing, mutt!?"

"Master, help me…!" The question didn't even register. He crawled closer to the brunet and whimpered. "_Master…_"

"What the hell do you want from me?!" If he didn't get out of this soon, the CEO swore he was going to rip Kai's head off, even if he _didn't_ have anything to do with the blond's current condition, just for leaving him alone with the mutt.

Joey looked up at him and whimpered again. "Fuck me!"

"If you think I'd— What?" Seto _hadn't_ been expecting _that._ "…You want me to do what?"

"Fuuuck meee," the blond whined, tearing up again. "Please!"

Normally, Seto would kick him in the face and storm into his room. However, he suddenly found himself unable to do so. For some reason, instead of being disgusted, he found it a turn on to have the smaller teen on his hands and knees, begging him to fuck him. …There was something seriously wrong with that, considering they were nearly enemies.

"…Please?" Joey asked again, giving him puppy-dog eyes that would make Satan crumble.

Seto thanked God that he wasn't Satan. "What's wrong with you, mutt? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

The blond tilted his head slightly, looking adorable with his eyes wide and confused and his ears folded back. "…My master?"

"I—" The brunet cut himself off and bit his bottom lip as the smaller teen's words went straight to his groin. "…I…" He closed his eyes and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "…We're both going to regret this."

"I don't care! I'm hot and horny and I want your cock in me _now!_" Joey answered, crawling toward him and nuzzling his crotch.

Seto growled and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, flinging him into his room. "Get on the bed."

The blond grinned and sprang onto the bed, shedding his shirt as he went. "Yes!"

"Don't think that just because I'm fucking you that you can use it against me. _You're_ the one that came to _me._"

Joey growled, smirking, and grabbed the brunet's shirt, dragging him closer. "I know. Keep me sated and you won't have to worry about it. Got it?" he answered, before bringing him in for a searing kiss.

Seto growled and grabbed his hair, yanking his head back and giving him a firm smack across the ears. "Bad dog!"

"Yai!" The blond whimpered slightly and cringed away, blushing a little. "…Sorry, Master…"

"_You_ are the one that came to _me,_ so _I_ get to call the shots. Got it?" he asked harshly, narrowing his eyes.

Joey whimpered again as his tail curled up against his stomach. "Sorry, master."

"Keep your hands to yourself unless I tell you that you can touch me, got it?"

"Yes, master." Joey yelped as the brunet grabbed his butt, jerking his hips forward. "Ah-! Son of a—"

Seto growled and began biting and sucking at the blond's neck, slipping his hand down the smaller teen's pants and giving his cock a quick squeeze. Joey arched his back and whined, reaching to grab the CEO's shirt, but stopped himself quickly when he heard a loud, threatening growl. He jerked his hands back quickly and dug his fingers into the blankets, blushing a little as he turned his head away.

The brunet began pulling at the dog-boy's pants, growling slightly in annoyance. He smirked in satisfaction as he finally got them down around the blond's knees, then leaned down and bit at his cock playfully. Joey yelped and bucked his hips up again, then whimpered and bit on his index finger, tears forming in his eyes as the brunet pulled his boxers down with his teeth.

"…Master… Can I touch you? Please?"

Seto raised an eyebrow in thought, then nodded slowly. "I suppose you can if you absolutely must."

Joey smiled gratefully and reached up, sliding his hands up the brunet's shirt. He yelped as Seto grabbed his wrists and looked up at him in confusion, ears folding back. "Master?"

"I'll take my clothes off when _I_ want to, puppy," the larger teen stated, narrowing his eyes at the blond. "You just lay here and enjoy what I'm doing to you."

"But— But—" Joey began, only to whimper as his wrists were pinned above his head. "Master, _please…_"

"I think not." Seto smirked and dragged his tongue up the blond's neck, nibbling at his jaw when he came to it. He growled softly and began grinding against him. "Like this?"

"_Yes…_" the smaller teen whined, tears forming in his eyes again. "Please… _Please…_"

"Please… what?" The brunet raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Joey whimpered and bucked his hips weakly, leaning up to kiss and lick at the larger teen's ear. "Ma… Master… Please…"

Seto chuckled softly, running his free hand up and down the blond's side slowly. "Think my ear's my weak spot, puppy?"

"You're gonna slip sometime, and then I'm gonna get ya."

The brunet chuckled again, then slipped his hand down to his belt. "I better make sure you can't take advantage of my slip then, shouldn't I, puppy?"

Joey squeaked in distress as the taller teen used his belt to tether his hands above his head and pulled at leather restricting his hands quickly. "_Master…!_"

Seto kissed the blond's throat and smirked, taking the time to strip him of his pants and boxers. "God, you've got long legs…"

"Yeah, but—"

"But since the lube is in _your_ room, what are we going to use, puppy?"

Joey blushed lightly and bit his bottom lip, whimpering at the thought of _'ohmiGod no lube!'_ "I… I don't know…"

Seto rested his fingers against the blond's lips. "Let's put your big mouth to good use." The canine human hesitated before parting his lips, tongue darting out to lick the tips of the brunet's fingers quickly. "Hmm…" The larger teen smirked. "Puppy likes to tease."

"Mm hmm!" Joey smiled as he lifted his head and closed his lips around the brunet's fingers, laving them with his tongue and moaning softly.

"Good puppy." The taller teen watched the blond out of the corner of his eye as his free hand reached down to discard his pants. "You're finally using your mouth and doing something I don't want to muzzle you for."

Joey's tail began to wag in response, no matter how irritated he acted. He released the brunet's fingers momentarily to look down and see what he was doing. "…That's never gonna fit."

"Yes it will, now suck."

"But… but… Look at it! It's huge!"

"Yes, thank you, I know. _Suck._"

The blond let out a small whine of distress but returned to sucking on his master's fingers. He yelped as he felt the larger teen's fingers lightly scratching his stomach, then turned his head away, whimpering as his tail began to wag faster. "M-master, what are you…"

Seto couldn't help another smirk. "Does scratching your ears make you react like this, too?"

"Aaaah… kinda, yeah… What the—_Yeek!_"

The brunet decided that any noise coming out of the mutt's mouth during sex was heavenly. …Especially his little yelp of surprise.

"Y-ya coulda warned me!" Joey exclaimed, frowning at him, then arched his back slightly at the feeling of the single finger moving around inside of him. He closed his eyes tightly and hissed, lifting one of his legs to rest on the brunet's shoulder. "Ngh… God… Your fingers are so long… I could never go that deep… Ooh…" He tossed his head back as a second finger was added and let out a whine. "Naaaah! Oh God oh God oh God…!" Biting his bottom lip, he arched his back again. "Master, touch me more…"

Seto turned his head and licked the inside of the blond's thigh, groaning softly, then began to suck, planning to leave the biggest hickey there that he could to stake his claim on him. He'd had a few one night stands, sure, and he'd even had a few male partners. …None of them had ever been talkative, though. He would have thought he'd be glad for that and absolutely hate the fact that his mutt kept talking, but listening to him, well… That just made it more erotic, and even easier to tell what pleased him and what didn't.

"_Oh God right there!_"

…And easier to tell when he touched the blond's prostate.

Joey tossed his head from side to side, arching his back as he tried vainly to escape the bonds around his wrists. "Master, do that again! Please!" He groaned as the brunet touched his prostate again and looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. "Master…"

"Tell me, mutt. Are you flexible?"

"Huh…?" The blond arched his back again and tilted his head, gasping slightly as the larger teen began to move his fingers to stretch him instead of search for and stimulate his prostate. "Uh… Y-yeah… _Ooh…_ I… I think so… ngh…"

The brunet raised an eyebrow. "_How_ flexible?"

"I… I can… put… Oh, God, Master, _please…_"

"_How flexible?_"

The canine yelped as the brunet struck his prostate once and bucked his hips instinctively. "_Ah-!_ I can put my feet behind my head-!" he exclaimed quickly, closing his eyes tightly. He whimpered as the fingers were pulled out of him and looked up at the larger teen with wide, pleading puppy-dog eyes. "_Master…_"

Seto couldn't help a small smile at the helpless, vulnerable look his puppy was giving him. "This may hurt a bit."

"Oh, _God,_ you're actually putting that thing in me?" the blond asked breathlessly, glancing down at the larger teen's cock again. "But… but it's so big, 'nd it's long, 'nd it's… it's never gonna fit…" He squeaked as the brunet positioned himself at his entrance. "Oh God, you're actually gonna put that in me!"

"That is the main idea of sex, yes," Seto replied, nodding slightly. "Put your other leg on my shoulder, pup."

"…But… you said it'll hurt…" Joey murmured, frowning, but lifted his other leg onto the brunet's shoulder nonetheless.

He sighed softly and ran his fingers up and down the blond's thighs. "I'll go slow, pup. I promise. And it will stop hurting after a while."

The smaller teen chewed his bottom lip anxiously, then whispered, "Promise?"

He couldn't help another smile at the vulnerable, trusting look the blond gave him. "I promise."

"…Okay…" Joey closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, trying to relax. "I'm ready."

Seto reached up and began scratching behind the blond's left ear as he began to push into him, trying to distract him from the intrusion; after all, he had the attention span of a goldfish. The blond whimpered and turned his head slightly, digging his heels into the CEO's back. The larger teen sighed and rolled his eyes as the canine boy arched his back, then came to a stop as soon as he buried himself to the hilt in the blond's tight heat.

Joey whimpered again and opened his eyes slowly, frowning, then looked up at the brunet and tilted his head. "Why'd you stop…?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I _don't_ want to hurt you, puppy," Seto answered, still patiently waiting for the blond's permission to continue. Give that man a gold star!

"…Ngh…" The smaller teen hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding his head. "Okay. …I think…"

The brunet raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Are you sure?"

"Um… Yeah." He bucked his hips up slightly and closed his eyes. "Move?"

Seto frowned. "You've never done this before."

"I said a guy's got needs, okay?!" Joey jerked his head away and blushed. "I've only ever pleasured myself!"

"…So I'm your first?" the brunet asked, unable to help a smirk.

"You wanna make somethin' of it?" the smaller teen asked, shooting him a sharp—but not entirely unembarrassed—glare.

"Not at all," Seto replied, pulling out of him before swiftly slamming back in.

"_Yeek!_ What the hell was that?!" the blond exclaimed, arching his back slightly. He groaned as the larger teen repeated the action and bit his bottom lip to hold back a moan as his prostate was hit. "Mgh… Master…"

The brunet grabbed the canine boy's hips and gave them a reassuring squeeze as he continued to thrust into the smaller body beneath him at an agonizingly slow pace, watching for any signs of discomfort or pain on his face. The blond muttered something breathlessly that sounded alarmingly like 'fuck, he's better than I thought he'd be,' but he tried to ignore that and instead focused on aiming for that one spot that would make all of the boy's pain melt away.

"Ah… Harder…" Joey threw his head back and whimpered, bucking his hips to meet the older boy's halfway. "Almost, almost, _almost…_ So close…"

Seto wrapped his arms around the blond's waist and began slamming into him harder, sinking his teeth into the smaller boy's shoulder hard enough to draw blood. The blond yelped, trying to recoil into the bed and escape the sudden pain, only to let out a shriek as the older boy's cock rammed into his prostate.

"Aaah…! Kaiba, that hurts! Let go o' me!" Joey exclaimed, shrugging to try and dislodge his teeth. He threw his head back as the brunet rammed into him again and groaned, unconsciously pulling him forward with his legs. "Ahn… Kaiba…"

The older boy released the blond's shoulder and gave it an affectionate lick before sucking on the wound lightly. "Mm…"

"Ha… Mn… Kaiba… Master… More… please…" The blond bit his bottom lip and whimpered. "Touch... touch me more… Let me pretend you care… Let me pretend that everything's going to be okay…!"

It was then that Seto realized that this moment meant much more to the canine boy than he'd originally thought. He thought back to all of the snippets of conversations he'd heard and all of the things he'd noticed about the blond. He'd been abandoned by the two people he cared about most early in his life; he grew up poor; he worked to support a father with a nasty drinking habit and abusive tendencies; he got into fights on a regular basis; he always had a bruise or cut somewhere; he smiled that stupid big grin to cover up his pain; he talked big to hide his insecurities; he had more pressure on him than a boy his age should ever have to bear; he pretended to be cool and in control to protect and calm those close to him. He was using this experience to pretend he had worth and that someone cared about him, because at some point, someone had told him he was worthless and no one cared about trash like him.

And he also realized that he was one of the 'someone's that called him worthless.

He let Joey's legs fall from his shoulders and pushed them to hook around his waist, which the blond immediately complied with and didn't skip a beat. Once satisfied with the grip around his waist, Seto slid his hands up and behind his back, pulling him closer and placing soft kisses along his neck shoulders. After a momentary pause, he lifted one hand and gently unbuckled the belt restricting his pup's hands. He smiled as the blond's arms immediately went around his neck and returned to leaving dozens of hickeys on his upper body.

"Ah! Faster! Please, please, please!" Joey begged, arching his back and digging his sharp nails into the brunet's back. He groaned and bit his lip softly as the older boy complied. "Oh… God…"

Seto reached down and grabbed the blond's until then neglected cock, smirking when he let out a yelp of surprise. Quickly deciding that he should now focus on getting them both satisfied, he latched onto his pup's neck and started sucking, planning to leave one last hickey before the night was through. He grunted softly as the blond dug his nails in further but chose not to say anything as his hips began slamming into the smaller boy's faster.

Joey began to pant weakly and let his head roll back, nonsensical words and mutters slipping from his lips as he arched his back and writhed beneath the larger teen. "Master… _Master…_ So… so good… You're so _good…!_"

"God, mutt, you're so fucking _tight…_" The brunet groaned and started jerking his hand faster, smiling slightly as the smaller boy whispered to him how good in bed he was. "Puppy…"

"Ah-! _Ah!_" Joey let loose a shriek that would have made an eagle jealous as he climaxed, white lights bursting in front of his eyes. "_Kaiba!_"

Seto groaned as the blond's muscles clamped down around his cock, shredding whatever clear thought he had left. "Shit, Joey—" He let out a grunt as his muscles locked and he found his climax as well, before he fell, boneless, on top of his puppy.

"…Kaiba…?"

"Mm."

The blond bit his bottom lip for a moment before whispering, "Thank you."

"…You're welcome, mutt." Seto rolled to the side and pulled him closer, sighing softly, before reaching up and fondling the blond's ears. "You've got soft ears…"

Joey blushed and snuggled up to him, trying to keep his tail from wagging too hard. "They're sensitive."

"This hurts?"

"No, but—"

"How about this then?"

He gasped as he felt the larger boy's fingers at the base of his tail and turned his head quickly. "What are you doing! Stop that! Stop!" He slapped the wandering hand away sharply, scowling. "Ya don't just touch someone's tail, Kaiba! …Unless you wanna get _bitten…_" he added in a growl, narrowing his eyes at the brunet.

"…Whatever. I'm going to sleep while I can."

"Fine, fine, I'm shutting up." Joey frowned. "…Keep your hands to yourself though. We just finished sex. Shoulda touched me then."

"I did, you stupid mutt!"

-x-x-x-

Kai raised an eyebrow as he listened to the two teens bicker, then glanced down at his sister. "They just had sex and they're _fighting._"

"That's how Joey shows his affection, Kai," Nadine mumbled, snuggling up to him in her doze. "He learned it from you."

"_Hey!_ I do _not_ show affection to that—"

"Go to sleep, Kai.'

"Tch, whatever."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Joey sighed and snuggled up to the body next to him, then frowned, brows furrowing together. He could almost swear that someone was staring at him. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking them to get used to the light, then turned his head.

And nearly jumped out of his skin.

"_Shit!_ Nadine! What are you doing?!" he hissed, glaring at the girl staring at him innocently.

She frowned and tilted her head in confusion. "What am I doing wrong?"

"This isn't my room, Nadie! What if Seto wakes up and sees you? He could— …That's a lie. What are you waiting for, Nadie?"

"…You and Kaiba dating now?" she asked, tilting her head and twisting her ears to one side.

"What?! _No!_" He glanced back at Seto to make sure he was still asleep, then turned another scowl on her. "Kaiba and I don't have that kind of relationship!"

Nadine blinked at him innocently. "Sooo… You guys have angry sex?"

"…Why aren't you asleep?"

"Um… Sorry, Joey…"

The blond sighed quietly and sat up a little, turning his body slightly to face her. "It's okay, Nadie, I'm not mad. But you better get out of here before Kaiba wakes up. We don't want him mad at you for coming in without asking."

"Okay. Bye." And she disappeared out of the room with a flick of her black tail.

Joey smiled affectionately before turning to snuggle back up to the older teen. Seto groaned softly and yanked him closer, rolling to be on his back and causing the blond to rest on his chest, blushing. "Eh… K-Kaiba? You awake?"

"Stop speaking please," the brunet ordered, throwing the arm that wasn't wrapped around the smaller teen's waist over his eyes. "I need to wake up before we start arguing. _God_…"

The canine boy frowned but decided that silence was in order. At least, it was until the older teen gave him a smack on the ass. "_Yai!_ Hey, that hurt, you jerk!"

"Bad dogs get spanked," Seto replied, finally uncovering and opening his eyes.

"How was I bad?!"

"Thinking that I wasn't going to know Nadie was in here." He couldn't help a smile. "Sweet little thing that she is."

Joey smiled as well. "Yeah. She's a cute kid." He let out another yelp as the brunet gave him a second smack on the ass. "Ow! Hey, what the hell-!?"

Seto smirked and sat up, getting out from under the covers. "That one? That one was just because you've got an ass for slapping."

"Why I oughtta—" the blond began, but suddenly, Kai came stomping into the room, face almost as red as his hair. "Uh… Kai?"

The feline man hissed and pointed to the door. "There is a woman—some stupid smartass _bitch_—in our living room. She called me a Tomcat! I was _this_ close to ripping out her throat-! …Oh dear God, are you two still naked?" He frowned. "It's after nine. Even _I'm_ awake." He sighed and waved it away. "Whatever. Just go and take care of that bitch!"

Joey sighed and waved him away. "Whatever. Let me find my pants." He scratched his ear lazily and walked over to his pants—because really, what was the point of wearing a shirt?

Kai frowned and raised an eyebrow, holding his hand out to rub the blond's chest slightly. "Are these all hickeys? Shit, man, you look like you've got a communicable _disease._"

"Huh? Oh yeah? Look at the gift he lift me down here!" he exclaimed, lifting his leg slightly as he was putting his pants on.

The feline man whistled slowly. "Shit, Kaiba, you just wanted to stake your claim, didn't you?" He reached out to touch the hickey in concern. "And it's not even beginning to heal yet—" He let out a yelp as the brunet in question smacked his hand away. "Ow! What the hell, Kaiba!?"

"He's mine now. Don't touch."

Joey scowled. "Say what—"

"_Joseph Wheeler! Get yer ass out here now!_"

The blond squeaked. "Oh God! _Alisa!_" And he stumbled out of the room still trying to get his pants up.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please. That girl couldn't possibly be that—"

"_I'd_ think twice about messing with her," Seto cut in, walking past him in a button-up shirt and jeans. "And that's saying something; I usually wouldn't think twice."

Joey stumbled out into the living room just in time to see Nadine handing his cousin a cup of tea. He furrowed his brow and frowned. "Alisa, what are you doing here? How did you know where we—"

"Joey, sweetie, I know ever'thin'." She smiled at him sweetly as she took a sip of her tea. "Just here with some infermation." She raised an eyebrow. "Who was that red-haired Tomcat I met when I came in?"

The dog boy rubbed the back of his head nervously, wondering why his cousin hadn't questioned the marks on him yet. "Um, that was Kai. Feline genes."

"Ah. No wonder he looked so pissed. Well, ya might as well get the rest of yer little ragtag fam'ly in here, Joey. I've got news that I think ya'll should hear."

"…But…" He bit his bottom lip. "…Why do I have such a bad feeling about it?"

Alisa raised an eyebrow at him. "'cause it's bad news, ya dummy. Now, tell me 'bout all these hickeys ya have. Who're they from?"

"Um…"

"They're from Kaiba," Nadine answered, smiling innocently.

"…I see." The blonde girl sighed. "It's yer body, ya can do whatcha want with it, I guess. They're already starting t' fade, though."

Joey shrugged slightly, frowning. "Uh… Faster regenerating cells."

"I see." She glanced at Nadine, who was sitting next to her stiffly, then at Joey. "I see we have two out of—from what I believe—six. So I'm looking for the Kaibas, Kai, and Ryou?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"I see. _SETO, MOKUBA! RYOU! KAI! COME HERE __**NOW!**_"

"_Shit!_" Joey rushed over to the startled wolf-girl beside his cousin and hugged her close. "Alisa! You almost gave Nadie a heart attack!"

The woman turned and pulled the girl from his grasp, pulling her to rest against her chest. Nadine snuggled up to her and hid her face in her chest. "Sorry, Ms. Wheeler. I'm just jumpy. I didn't mean to—"

"Sweetie, do yerself a favor and cool yer jets," Alisa murmured, running a hand through the girl's hair comfortingly. "Just calm down." The large male wolf that followed everywhere lifted a paw to rest on the girl's leg. "Look, even Loop is worried about you."

"Na, why are you molesting my sister?!"

Joey grimaced and grabbed Seto and Mokuba as the came up behind the feline teen, trusting Ryou to dive to safety on his own. "Move, move, move!"

"Ow-! _Mutt!_"

And then Alisa was up, leaving Nadine on the couch in stunned confusion, as her fist collided with Kai's jaw. She followed that up with an elbow to the stomach, a palm to his chin, and finally kicking his feet out from under him. Whilst the feline man lay on the floor recovering, she turned to Loop and snapped, pointing at the ground, forcing the wolf to lie down when really, all he wanted to do was attack and defend his mistress.

She turned back to the redhead and scowled. "Don't you _ever_ accuse me of somethin' like that _ever. Again._"

Kai nodded mutely, deciding it was best not to mess with a psycho.

Alisa then turned to the other occupants of the room and frowned. "I've found that the people wantin' ya dead are gonna hire one infamous 'Sniper.' From what I can tell, Sniper never fails. An' seein' as how I don't want ya'll _dead,_ I thought ya should know," she stated, then turned toward Joey and raised an eyebrow. "Anythin' else ya wanna know?"

"…Does Freddy still have to eat that mash crap?" the blond whined, ears folding back in frustration.

She scowled again in response. "Joey, it's been three days. _Yes,_ Freddy still needs to eat that mash crap." She turned and headed for the door, snapping for her wolf companion to follow her. "I'll be seein' ya. Oh! Kaiba!" She turned and faced the brunet, smiling. "You break my cousin's heart, I'll break yer face. Got it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Seto found it in his best interest to nod. "Yes."

"Good! Glad we have that outta the way. Well, I'll see ya later." She waved over her shoulder and smiled before she and Loop both disappeared out the door.

"…Who… the _fuck_ was that?!" Kai exclaimed angrily, sitting up.

Ryou raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe that will teach you not to assume that all girls are going to be weaker than you."

"I like her," Nadine said, unable to help smiling, which in turn caused her brother to stare at her in disbelief.

"Wha…? _Why?_"

"She's tough! I wanna be just like her!"

Joey slapped a hand to his forehead and sighed, shaking his head slowly. "Here we go… I'm getting breakfast." As he walked into the kitchen, Kai exploded.

"_Why would you want to be exactly like her?!_"

-z-z-z-

Later in the afternoon found Seto literally throwing Kai out the door, shouting for him to come back only when he was ready to stop sulking and face the fact that he got his ass handed to him by a _girl._ This then caused a chain reaction of laughter from the other occupants of the house, until they, too, were thrown outside, because 'it was a nice day, damn it, so leave some peace for those of us that still have to work!'

…So they began shooting practice, with Kai's supervision. It went well, until Nadine finally whined her way into letting Kai allow her to shoot.

In which case she absolutely blew everyone away by her accuracy when she shot each and every target exactly through the center of the bull's eye.

"…Why? Why is my little sister better at shooting than _you!?_" the feline man shouted, pointing at Joey.

Joey scowled. "You say that as if it's my fault! Well let me tell you, I had _nothing_ to do with her outrageously good aim!"

"…I don't believe you."

"_Whaaat?!_"

Nadine blinked at them as they began to fight, then looked up at Ryou and Mokuba helplessly. "Oops."

"…I'm sure they'll calm down soon!" Mokuba stated, smiling, as he tried to make her feel better. "Don't worry about it, Nadie. It wasn't your fault!"

Ryou sighed as the blond and redhead began to throw rocks, sticks, metal targets, and other various and close-by items, then grabbed both Nadine and Mokuba by the hand, leading them back toward the house. "Let's get out of range before they start throwing dangerous and large objects."

"Sorry Kai and Joey!" Nadine exclaimed, before the albino whipped her inside and the door snapped shut.

-z-z-z-

Seto sighed loudly as he heard something crack against his window and turned his head sharply, sending a glare at the poor glass that had really done nothing wrong. Judging by the screaming, it must be Kai and Joey's doing. …They shouldn't throw things if they weren't going to hit each other. They could have _broken_ his _window._

Standing up, he sighed and slammed his laptop closed; it was _obvious_ he wouldn't be getting _any_ work done today. At least, not until he had somehow had Kai and Joey effectively debilitated and _silent._

He stalked out of his room to find Nadine, Mokuba, Ryou, and Freddy all staring out of the window at the scene the dog and cat were making. "…What are you doing?"

"We're waiting to see if Joey grabs that boulder behind him and throws it at Kai," Nadine answered, not taking her eyes away from the window. "So far it's only been minor damage."

"…Minor…?"

"They've drawn blood but they haven't broken any bones; if bones are broken, bets are off and we make Nadine go out and start crying," Mokuba added. "Joey and Kai melt at tears."

"…Whatever." Seto waved it away and began toward the door leading outside. "I'll be right back."

Nadine turned to watch him go and frowned, then looked up at her companions, brow furrowed. "You don't think he's going to try and stop them, do you?"

"I think he's going to die trying," Mokuba answered, resting his chin on his hands. "They should stop before he gets hurt, though. They've got the good sense not to drag anyone else into their battles."

Ryou bit his bottom lip nervously. "I don't know about that…"

-z-z-z-

Seto crossed his arms and frowned, watching the volley of insults and strange items between the two genetically enhanced males. After a few minutes, he sighed and took a few steps forward. "Guys, could you just—"

Kai turned quickly, letting out a squawk of alarm, and lost his grip on the rock he was holding. "What the—!"

"Kaiba, look out-!" Joey began, then cut himself with a wince and a gasp of horror as the rock collided with the brunet's head. "_Kaiba!_"

The last thing Seto saw before everything went dark was the blond running toward him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"_Kaiba? Kaiba, wake up. Come on, Kaiba. You can't die on me now!"_

"_He's not __**dead,**__ you moron. He's just knocked out."_

"_Kai! You could have given him a concussion with that stupid rock! KAIBA! WAKE UP!"_

"_Screaming louder will __**not**__ make him wake up, Joey."_

Seto groaned and lifted a hand to his head. Someone caught it before it could reach, however, causing him to squint his eyes open, flinching slightly at the light. "What… happened…?" He winced slightly as gold began to swim into view. "…Puppy…?"

"Well, at least he recognizes you," Kai sighed, sitting back. He smiled as Nadine ran out to him, a familiar white box in her hands with a red cross on top. "And here comes our little nurse!"

"Kaiba! Don't move! I need to bandage your head!"

Seto moved his eyes to glance toward the little wolf-girl. "Why?"

"You, um… got hit in the head with a rock," Joey explained, brushing the brunet's hair off his forehead. "Sorry."

"'s okay, puppy…" He shut his eyes and sighed. "Just… please keep your voice down… my head hurts…" He winced slightly as he felt a burning sensation on his forehead, just above his right eyebrow and trailing down to his temple, and let out a hiss. "Ouch!"

"Sorry, Kaiba," Nadine said softly, flinching a little. "But it needs to be disinfected."

"Are you okay, Seto?" Mokuba asked in concern, leaning over her. "That looked like it hurt."

"Just a little bit of a headache," the brunet answered softly. "I'm okay, Mokie."

Nadine turned his head slightly. "I'm gonna put a bandage on this, okay, Kaiba?"

"Sure. It won't hurt it." He winced as she pressed a little too hard. "Ouch, spoke too soon."

"Sorry."

"He should rest inside," Ryou commented, frowning at him. "Keep an eye on him for a while. Make sure he doesn't have a concussion."

Seto sat up slowly, wincing slightly as the light shined into his eyes at a different angle. "I'm fine. I just want you guys to shut up so I can get some work done."

"But Kaiba!" Nadine gasped, looking appalled. "You could be seriously injured! You can't work for a while yet!"

"…Nadine, please. I'm the CEO of a large company. I need to—"

"Quit while you're ahead," Joey cut in, his golden eyes locked on the small girl.

Kai nodded slightly to show his agreement. "Don't argue with her on this, Kaiba."

Seto looked down at her and shook his head slightly, frowning. "I'm sorry, Nadine. I can't afford to give up this afternoon."

Nadine narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh really?"

-z-z-z-

Joey shrugged, unable to help a smile, even as the larger teen glared at him. "Sorry, Kaiba. We _told_ you not to argue with her."

"Untie me, damn it!"

"You have upset Almighty Nadine." The blond grinned. "She says who does what until they're completely healthy and completely healed."

Seto shot him an even more venomous glare. "Untie me now, Joey, or so help me—"

"You know you just made it worse by fighting back," the dog boy continued. "You wouldn't have gotten cut or bruised if you hadn't fought back. Just do what she says when she says it and life goes a _lot_ smoother." He glanced at the brunet and raised an eyebrow. "Like that deep cut you got on your side. That's gonna hurt for days."

The brunet sighed and turned his glare on the ceiling. "Fine. Don't untie me. Bastard dog."

"Hey, _I_ know when to back off and let someone else have their way. You just made it worse." Joey paused in thought, licking his lips, before suddenly standing and crawling across the bed, settling himself beside the brunet and snuggling up to his prone form. "But I'll keep you company until Nadie comes and unties you."

Seto sighed loudly and rolled his eyes, ignoring the warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest as the blond nuzzled his neck affectionately. "Whatever."

"Come on, Kaiba! Even a big, bad CEO needs a cuddle buddy when he's hurt!"

He smirked and glanced down at the smaller teen. "I think I like it better when you called me 'Master.'"

Joey snorted. "Ha! That's for sex. As you can see, we both have clothes on, and I doubt you can top me with your wrists tied to the headboard." He paused in thought, then added, "And you're not going to let a _dog_ top _you._"

"Good dog. You've got a brain after all."

The blond stuck his tongue out but closed his eyes and snuggled closer nonetheless. He licked his neck absently and sighed, lapping softly at the other teen's creamy skin. "Mn… Nice and salty…"

"…What are you doing?"

"I'm licking you. You taste good. All salt and tang. You know?"

"No. I don't. Stop it or I'm going to want to jump you. And since I'm currently tied up, I'll only end up hurting myself more." Seto closed his eyes as the dog boy continued licking his neck, then growled softly. "Mutt, stop it."

Joey flinched slightly, ears folding back in surprise, before he scowled and latched onto the brunet's neck, sucking softly with a small, defiant growl. He couldn't help a smirk as the larger teen's pheromones changed from annoyance to arousal. He glanced down as he felt something wrapping around his waist and raised an eyebrow as he found the brunet wrapping his legs around him.

He let out a startled yip as he was pulled on top of him. "Hey! What the hell?"

"Tch. Don't get me horny unless you're willing to deal with me," the brunet ordered, smirking. He tossed his head slightly, momentarily showing off his neck to him, before closing his eyes and growling loudly. "You get to be on top. That doesn't mean that you get to be in me."

"Eh?!" Joey squeaked softly in reaction to the glare he received after that statement and ducked his head a little. "Kaiba, calm down. I'm not gonna do anything you don't want. I can heal fast, but you're still stronger than me. I don't like pain."

"Then ride me." The brunet's face relaxed into a smirk, though it wasn't his usual better-than-thou smirk, or even a cruel, heartless smirk.

Joey could only describe as probably the closest thing to a smile he'd ever receive from the CEO. All he could do was stare for a moment.

Seto smirk-that-was-almost-a-smile began to fade in veiled concern. "…Puppy? Are you okay?"

The blond blushed a little and ducked his head again, ears folding back in surprise. "Yeah. 'm fine."

"…Then would you mind taking care of the problem you gave me?"

"Yes, Master." He couldn't help a small smile. "Absolutely."

-z-z-z-

Nadine walked toward Seto's room and, without thinking to knock, opened the door. She stared into the room for a second, then closed the door again and turned, walking back toward the living room silently.

Mokuba smiled at her. "So, how's Seto, Nadie?"

She blinked at him for a moment, then threw her head back and screamed. "_MY EYES ARE GOING TO BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!_"

Kai looked up at her quickly, frowning, then glanced at Ryou. "Do you want to take this one, Feathers, or should I?"

"…I'll take her. You take… the cause of her bleeding eyes," the albino replied, holding out his arms. Nadine immediately ran into them and hid her face in his neck. She wasn't crying, which showed it hadn't been completely horrible; just startling and unexpected. He sighed in relief. She would be easier to handle this way. "You wanna talk about it, or do you just want to sit for a while?"

"Wanna sit."

"Okay. Then we'll sit."

Kai sighed and went to Seto's room, opening the door without a second thought, just like his sister had. He blinked, jaw dropping in surprise. "…Are… you serious?"

Joey shot him a glare. "Excuse me, but can we talk some other time?"

"Wha-? Yeah, sure." The feline shut the door softly, then turned and walked back into the living room as well.

Mokuba blinked at him before frowning in concern. "Kai? What's wrong?"

"…My eyes are going to bleed."

"Huh?" The raven-haired teen stood to go check in his brother's room, worried for his safety, but looked up in confusion when Kai grabbed his arm to stop him. "What?"

Kai shook his head. "No. Do not look."

"Why? It's not like they're having sex or anything." When the redhead merely blinked at him, he gasped in disgust. "Are you serious?! It's the middle of the day! That's so gross!"

-z-z-z-

"…Nadie, I'm sorry," Joey sighed, setting down his fork and looking toward her guiltily.

She blinked at him, the perfect picture of innocent confusion, before smiling brightly. "I just wasn't expecting it. Last time, you guys made lots of noise. This time, you were really quiet."

Both teens blushed—the blond more so than Seto—and looked down at their food. "…Not my fault you tied me to the bed," the brunet mumbled, scowling a little.

Nadine puffed out her cheeks, then grabbed her roll and chucked it at his head. "Then listen to me when I tell you that you're staying in bed, you butthead!"

"Nadie, calm down. No one likes an angry wolf," Kai sighed, only to find himself with a spoonful of mashed potatoes covering the side of his face.

Ryou scowled at him. "Let her feel however she wants. Kaiba was stupid and felt her wrath. He should learn to _fear_ it."

The two older teens blinked at the albino in shock before Kai turned to look at Seto. "I believe we have a reason to fear for our lives."

"I believe you're right."

"Hey! Everyone should respect Nadie!" Joey exclaimed, scowling. "Kai, do you not remember the complete _ass whooping_ your sister gave us when we were in the warehouse?! She's a little beast!"

Mokuba nodded his agreement. "Mm hmm. She practically ate you guys for lunch."

"…I prefer thinking of Joey as lunch, me just as a convenient dessert."

"You're a freak and I hate you," Seto stated, though his expression betrayed nothing. "Your sister is more normal than you are and the world will be doomed if _you_ are allowed to procreate."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Who would have me?"

"Alisa would!" Nadine stated cheerfully, and totally missed the look of horror crossing both the blond and redhead's faces. "She's nice, and she's tough! She could put up with you and—"

"I will _not_ be seeing that bitch _anytime_ soon!" the man declared, eyebrow twitching.

The wolf-girl merely smiled at him. "You're just mad because she called you a tomcat."

"Can't say she wasn't right," Mokuba muttered, before letting out a yelp as he was kicked beneath the table.

Seto shot him a glare, nonverbally telling him to shut up while he was ahead, before turning toward the redhead and raising an eyebrow. "What's the matter? Afraid she'd be the dominant one in the relationship?"

"Don't suggest something like that!" Kai exclaimed, glaring at him. "I'm not afraid of anything! I just don't _like_ her!"

Joey frowned but continued eating. "That's a shame. She likes you."

"She calls the people she likes tomcats?!"

"No, stupid, she decides what animal you look like and calls you on it." Here he shot the brunet a small glare. "Which is why I _don't_ appreciate derogatory dog terms! She made them special and you made them hurt!"

Seto raised a hand and waved his fork slightly in dismissal. "I never meant anything. You're just fun to tease."

"That doesn't mean it didn't hurt," the blond snapped, then turned back to Kai with a small smile. "She's really pretty docile unless you insult her integrity. …Like telling her to stop molesting your sister." His smile faded. "She was molested by her dad, Kai. That's half the reason she's as… _different_ as she is."

"There's _another_ reason your cousin's a psycho?!" Seto asked in alarm, earning a kick from Mokuba under the table and a hissed 'shut up Seto!'

Joey shot him a small glare. "_Yes._ She's been molested by her father and then she was kidnapped and raped multiple times before she was finally found with her attacker." His eyes began to glow in his fury. "She was curled up in the corner with the guy's dog. The guy was dead. She'd stabbed him twice and then his dog mauled him."

"…And suddenly the almost outrageous amount of dogs and wolves she owns makes sense," Ryou stated softly, looking down at his plate.

"Why do you know so much about that?" Mokuba asked, frowning.

The blond growled softly. "Because I'm the one who found her. Gang leader sent me to collect some cash from him. I got her and the dog to the hospital—because she wasn't going anywhere without it—as soon as I could after that. Since then I've looked after her and she's looked after me. That's why she was okay givin' me guns and I was okay with her just barging into the house and commenting on my hickeys."

"…When was that? You haven't been in a gang for—" Ryou began, but the canine cut him off.

"I was eleven. She was thirteen." He sighed and stood up. "Sorry, guys, I lost my appetite all of the sudden. I'm going to go take a shower. You—" He pointed at Seto. "—Will be sharing your bed with me again, because the couch is uncomfortable. And you're going to bed at decent hour. …And you're going to let Nadie change that bandage."

Seto scowled at him. "I'll do what I want—" He paused as he heard a low growl and turned his head slowly to find a pair of purple eyes narrowed at him. "…Fine."

Joey smiled and tilted his head slightly, pleased that he'd given up without a fight, and turned to walk to the bathroom.

Then a sharp snap was heard, and the blond was thrown forward, blood spattering across the wall from the bullet to his head.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"_Joey! Joey!_"

"Get _down!_"

The remaining people standing ducked under the table as the light above the table was shot, extinguishing all source of light but for the small nightlight next to the toaster. Nadine whimpered softly, staring at the blond's motionless body, before turning and hiding her face in Mokuba's chest, shaking with silent sobs. Mokuba himself couldn't take his eyes off of the motionless blond.

Kai took the safety off his gun—everyone vaguely wondered where he'd gotten it—and seemingly slithered from underneath the table and to the blond. He rolled him onto his back, frowning, and checked for a pulse, then growled. Everyone considered it safe to assume that there was none.

"What do we do now?" Ryou asked softly, quickly covering Mokuba's eyes when he realized that he couldn't look away.

"Can't see 'im from here," Kai mumbled, glaring in the direction of the broken window. "I'd suggest sneaking outside, but he's probably got all of the windows covered."

Seto frowned as his cell phone began vibrating and answered it quickly. "Hello?"

"_Would ya'll do me a faver? Stay down!"_

"…Alisa?"

"_The one an' only. Tell that damn tomcat to stay down, will ya? I don't want Sniper shootin' anyone else."_

"…Alisa, Joey is—"

"_I'm busy; tell me later!"_

Seto blinked as the other line went dead, frowning at the cell phone in his hand, before wincing as a few more gunshots were heard. The sound of a dog barking was also heard before one last shot, and then there was silence.

Kai stood slowly, bracing himself for a bullet. When none came, he began toward the door leading outside. "Stay here."

"…Alisa said for you to stay down," the brunet stated, only to receive an aggravated hiss.

"Shut up! I don't care what she says!"

"…She's gonna beat him up," Ryou sighed, then frowned when he thought he saw Joey's tail twitch. He crawled over to him and reached to feel for a pulse. When there was none, he sighed, figuring it to be the result of wishful thinking.

Until the blond's hand came up and grabbed his wrist, in which case all of them (except Seto, but he looked just as shocked and terrified as they all felt) screamed like girls.

"_OhmyGod!_"

Joey growled and sat up, glaring toward the window through the blood flowing into his eyes. "Fucking _kill_ you!" he snarled, before springing through the window.

"…Okay, so he just got shot in the head, and he's still alive," Seto stated, more for confirmation that the others had seen it too than a real question.

"…Yes, I think that's what just happened," Ryou replied, staring after him in confusion.

Then there was frantic barking and a few loud curses before the kitchen door slammed open. A red flash was seen darting up the stairs, cursing and spitting, before a golden flash came after, slamming the door shut and diving underneath the couch in the living room. After a few minutes of silence, there was a knock on the front door.

Seto sighed loudly and stood. "My life used to be normal. I never realized how much I'd miss it until this happened." He glanced down at the blond's tail that was still sticking out from under the couch, then kicked it lightly. "She's going to find you regardless of where you're hiding."

The only response he got was a whimper, but then Joey slunk out from under the furniture and steeled himself for a meeting with his cousin.

-x-x-x-

"…Sooo… Now what?"

Alisa paused in brushing Nadine's hair, then shrugged slightly, as if not caring. "Tch, like I know. I just shot a man; _you_ figure out what to do."

"Can we stay here, or are more people going to be sent after us?" Seto asked, frowning. "If we're not safe here—"

"Yer not safe _anywhere_ ya go." The blonde girl raised an eyebrow but didn't look up from making a French braid. "They know where ya are. They'll know where yer goin'. Yer safer just stayin' here and waitin' for 'em to come to ya." She frowned in thought, then turned to Ryou. "Does this look straight to you?"

"Hmm? Yes, it does."

"Ah."

Joey scowled, rubbing the scar he'd received once his cells had regenerated and healed him. The bullet that had hit him was currently sitting on the table. "Seriously? I think we're screwed either way."

"Well, not necessarily," his cousin answered, grimacing, as she tied off the wolf-girl's hair with a rubber band. "We could always go after 'em. …I wouldn't wanna put ya in that danger, though."

"Uh, hello!" the blond exclaimed, waving at the bullet on the table. "They shot through my brain and I'm still alive! …I believe there's something you're hiding, Alisa."

Kai snorted. "She's a bitch. Bitches hide things."

Alisa raised an eyebrow. "…Yer disdain fer me is dully noted. Couldja please get over yerself for a minute an' just _work_ with me?"

"Over my dead body."

"…Whatever." She sighed and stood up, giving Nadine a pat on the head (to which the tiny girl gave a blinding smile), before walking toward the door. "I'm not fightin' with ya. Ya obviously don't want my help. I'll be goin' now."

"But-!" Ryou began, wincing as she slammed the door shut, then turned a glare on the feline man, eyes beginning to glow acid green in agitation. "This is your fault."

Kai waved it away carelessly. "We don't need her. She's just annoying."

"The sooner we get these scientists off our backs, the sooner we get to go home, and the sooner I get to see my yami," the albino stated, wings spreading out to make him seem more intimidating. "I'm tired and I want to go home. Just because I'm quiet and easygoing doesn't mean I will not kill you for making me stay here longer than absolutely necessary."

The feline man was obviously unsure of whether or not to believe him. Seeing this, Ryou let out a furious snarl and tackled him. The others could only watch in a mixture of horror and amusement as the albino absolutely tore at him.

"…This is a horrible, _horrible_ scene, but I can't tear my eyes away," Mokuba stated, before wincing as he heard a snap. "_Ew!_ Did you just break a bone?!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Kai exclaimed, sprinting for the door. "I'll go get her, jeez!"

Ryou shook a fist after him. "Run fast!"

"…I have found a new respect for you, Ryou," Joey stated, smiling at him.

The albino blushed a little but didn't remove the scowl from his face. "I want to go _home!_"

"Don't we all?" Seto sighed, standing up. "I'm going to go work on some contracts. Call me when you've figured something out."

"Okay, Seto," Mokuba answered, waving after him. "Don't work too hard, or we'll sick Nadie on you!"

"…Okay."

Nadine smiled and hugged Freddy tightly. "I like this family. I don't see why you'd ever want to leave."

At this, everyone seemed to share a wince. Ryou coughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yes, I'll admit it's a nice family, but I want to get back to my _own_ family. This is just temporary, Nadie."

"Yeah," Joey agreed, trying to smile, but the pain in his eyes still shone through. "After all, when this is all over, we're going back to where we were before."

"Oh. …So where will Kai and I go?"

"You'll come an' live with me." Everyone turned sharply to find Alisa standing in front of the door, Kai standing behind her with a look of incredulous anger. She didn't even turn to face him. "Ya live by yer rules, do whatever ya want. Ya don't even hafta speak to me if ya don't want. The only rule you'll hafta abide by is leave the dogs to _me._ In fact, if we time it right, ya won't even hafta see me." She turned toward the redhead, frowning. "Is that okay? Ya get a house fer yer sister an' I don't hafta worry about my house durin' daylight?"

"What about me?" Joey asked, frowning.

She rolled her eyes. "Joey, I got three extra rooms. I'll find room fer all of ya."

"…Okay. So, seriously, now what?"

-x-x-x-

"So you just let him go?" Joey asked, closing his eyes as he leaned back in a rocking chair on the porch. "Guy shoots me and you let him live?"

Alisa shrugged slightly, watching Freddy and Nadine play under the watchful eyes of Kai and Loop. "He's just a gun fer hire, Joey. Works fer the police as a sniper durin' hostage standoffs. I shot at him, he shot at me, an' we're even. He promised to spread the word that you've got enough weapons to smart a small war an' the skills to use 'em. Paid killers shouldn't be a problem anymore. It's just the scientists ya gotta watch out fer now." She turned her gaze on him and smiled sadly. "I wish I could protect ya better, Joey. I really do."

The canine boy smiled and shrugged. "Nothing you can do about it, Alisa. I'm grateful for everything you've done for us already."

"Hmm." She turned her gaze back on the red-haired feline man sitting on the fence on the other side of the yard. "…That man _does not_ like me."

"Who? Kai?"

"That's the only man _out_ here."

"I wouldn't say that. You just got off on the wrong foot and he holds grudges. Give it a few weeks and he'll warm up to you. …Besides, Nadine says he fights with the people he cares about."

Alisa let out a bark of laughter that startled Nadine and Loop, her body shaking with silent, bitter laughter that made Joey's heart break. "Why should he? I insulted him an' beat him up. I like him, Joey; that's the kind of man I've been lookin' for." She lifted a watery gaze toward her cousin but refused to let any tears fall. "Now that I've found him, I've chased him away, an' I know he won't give me a second chance." She sniffed, then jumped off the railing of the porch abruptly and forced a smile. "Ya want some cocoa? I'll make a big pot of it right now!"

"…Alisa…" He sighed, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good."

"Okay! I'll make enough for ev'ryone!" And with that, she disappeared into the kitchen.

Joey sighed and turned his gaze back to the yard only to find Nadine, Loop, and Freddy staring in his direction in concern. He shrugged helplessly. Nadine and Freddy went back to playing. Loop got to his feet and loped over to the door. As soon as he got there, the door opened, allowing him inside, before it snapped shut again.

Kai stood and made his way over to take the spot that Alisa had been occupying. "So, what was that all about?"

"…Couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," the blond replied. "It's private."

"Okay. I'm cool with that." The redhead rested his hands behind his head and crossed his ankles. "It's a family thing, right?" He glanced at Nadine. "…I can see why Nadie likes her though."

Joey raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really," Kai answered, scowling at him, before sighing and closing his eyes momentarily. "I'm not stupid. I can see why. She's intelligent, strong, and tough. She won't take crap from anybody. Gentle, sharp when she needs to be, knows how to take care of herself, has a lot of dogs—Nadie's always wanted a puppy. And she makes good cocoa."

The blond snorted and crossed his arms, shooting him a glare. "So if you see why Nadie likes her, why do you still treat her like crap?"

"Because _I'm_ the one Nadie's supposed to wish she was like!" he exclaimed in frustration, throwing his hands up. "She's always looked up to _me!_ She's always wanted to be like _me!_ Then that bitch came and took all of that away!"

Joey frowned. "Not to burst your bubble or anything, but you should have seen this coming at some point. …You're a boy."

Kai scowled at him again. "I know I'm a guy! What does that have to do with anything?!"

He nodded at the wolf-girl still playing with the wog, now in an intense game of tug-of-war. "Nadie's a girl. A growing girl, at that. She's going to grow up sometime, Kai, and she's going to want a girl to teach her girl things. She's going to want to giggle about boys with someone else, ask about girl things, and go shopping with. Admit it, Kai. You'll beat up whatever boy she's giggling about, blush and disappear when she asks what's happening to her body, and sulk all the way through shopping."

"…I guess you're right," the feline man sighed.

Joey smiled at him. "I know. Kai, she looks up to you as a brother, and she believes you're the best big brother in the world. Shouldn't that be enough now that she's growing up?"

The redhead nodded slowly. "I guess."

"Good. …Now stop hurting my cousin," he ordered sharply. "I've told you, Kai. She likes you. She's been looking for a man like you her whole life, which is saying something, considering what men have done to her in the past. You treating her like crap is just hurting her, and I don't like it."

Kai raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you serious? Me?" He reached up and pulled at one of his ears skeptically. "With these? You're kidding."

"Just because she owns a bunch of dogs and wolves _doesn't_ mean she doesn't like cats," the blond replied, shrugging. He glanced back at the door, then knocked on it loudly. "Hey, Alisa!"

The door opened and the blonde stuck her head out. "What?"

"Do you like cats?"

Alisa raised an eyebrow at him, clearly displaying her confusion. "I have no reason t' _dislike_ cats. Personally, I think they're delightful. They purr when they're happy, hiss when they're mad, an' they're very territorial. More so than even wolves, an' that's sayin' somethin'. There's this real sweetie that comes by my house for breakfast. He sleeps with the dogs on cold nights. I call him Patch."

"…Dare I ask why?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

She scowled at him. "He had a big old bald patch from scratchin' fleas. I got some meds on him, though, so it's growin' in."

"Would you ever fall in love with someone like… me?" Seeing her appalled expression, the blond cringed. "_Ew!_ That came out _completely_ wrong! I mean someone who's genetically altered! Like Mokuba, or Kai, or—Anyone that _isn't_ me!"

"…Hmm." Alisa tilted her head thoughtfully. "I don't suppose it really matters, does it? It's the personality that matters, not the body containing it, right? …Besides, it could make for some _very_ kinky sex!" She grinned devilishly. "Am I right, or am I right?"

Joey jumped to his feet and growled, ears folding back as he scowled at her. "Stay outta my sex life!"

"Then I must be right!" she laughed, before ducking back into the kitchen and closing the door behind her.

Kai blinked after her silently, then smirked. "On second thought, if I have to get an older sister figure for Nadie, she'd be it."

"You just want sex," the blond accused. "Pervert."

"What? She's pretty, smart, and she's got an ass like I've never seen before."

"If you touch her—"

"What? You gonna break my face like she threatened Kaiba?"

"No, _she'll_ break your face. But if you hurt my cousin, Kai, I _swear_ I'll hurt you. Not throwing rocks and screaming at each other; that's for petty stuff. If you hurt my cousin, I will _maim_ you. The only reason I won't kill you is because Nadie needs you. Alright? Are we clear?"

He sighed and nodded. "We're clear. I hurt your cousin, you hurt me. …Do you think she really believes the kinky sex thing?"

Joey shuddered. "I don't _even_ want to think about it. …But if I were to guess, I think that yes, she believes it."

"Believes what?" Nadine asked innocently, leaning over the railing and tilting her head.

"…Uh…" Kai and Joey glanced at each other, fumbling for an answer, but were spared anything embarrassing as the door opened.

Alisa led the way out of the kitchen, followed by Mokuba, Ryou, and Seto. "Hey guys, I finished the cocoa. …Sorry, did I interrupt somethin'?" she asked, tilting her head and appearing as innocent as Nadine had only a few moments earlier. "I made enough fer ev'ryone."

"Yay!" Nadine exclaimed, darting forward to get a mug, before sitting on the railing and staring up at the moon. Mokuba joined her once acquiring his own mug, and they began to discuss some of the new videogames coming out.

Seto grabbed a mug set aside for him filled with tea and sat in the rocking chair that Joey had been occupying moments before. The blond frowned after grabbing his own mug. "Hey, that's my seat!"

"…I don't see any reason for you not to sit in it," the brunet answered, smirking. He reached out and grabbed him around the hips, pulling him into his lap. "I think we've had sex enough for you to be able to sit on my lap, puppy."

Ryou raised an eyebrow at them, then rolled his eyes and, with his own mug of cocoa, leaned against the railing to listen to Mokuba and Nadine's conversation. "I like the older games myself, like Sonic the Hedgehog, or Pacman." This in turn caused Nadine to squeal in delight and Mokuba to agree ecstatically, and he'd be delighted if they made newer versions of the old games.

Alisa turned to the feline man and tilted his head. "I didn't know if ya wanted some, so I made ya a mug anyway. Is that okay?"

Instead of answering, he took the tray from her hands and set it on the table. "Take a walk with me."

"Um… Okay," she answered, confused, but followed him as he led her away.

Joey shook a fist after them. "Don't come back with any hickeys!"

"Huh? Wait, where are we goin'?" Alisa asked in confusion, before they disappeared into the night.

After a few minutes of silence, Seto asked, "So, what are we doing? Just waiting for those scientists to come to us?"

Joey blinked, then let his mug rest on his lap, his gaze anywhere but the CEO. "…Alisa and I decided that we're going to get them before they can get us."

"…We."

"Alisa and me. You guys will stay here, and we'll go and find them and… stop them." He blushed as the brunet's arm tightened around him and closed his eyes. "Kaiba… if we don't come back—"

"Puppy, you've cheated death so many times, why should this time be any different? Especially with your regenerating," the larger teen stated, reaching up and running the back of his hand over the blond's soft cheek.

Joey blushed even more and took a sip of his cocoa to hide his face. He let out a soft squeak as the brunet pulled the mug away. He set it on the table beside his tea and pulled him into an embrace. "Ack-! Kaiba, I—"

"You'll come out of this okay, puppy, just like every other life threatening situation you've been in." Seto fondled one of the blond's ears absently. "Promise me you'll come back."

"Why would you care?" he asked softly, frowning. "I'm just a worthless mutt."

"You're my mutt. …And that makes you worth a lot. So promise me you'll come back," he ordered.

"Why?"

"Must you question everything I say?"

"Yes."

The brunet smiled slightly. "Because I know you always keep your promises."

Joey blushed again. "I promise."

"Good. Thank you."

"Are you two going to kiss now?"

The two teens blushed and turned to find Ryou, Mokuba, and Nadine staring at them in interest. Loop and Freddy were watching them as well.

Joey blushed even more and stood up, glaring at them. "Are we really that interesting?!"

"Yes."

"_Ugh!_ You little brats!"

Nadine and Mokuba let out shrieks before running to hide behind Alisa and Kai as they walked back up. Ryou merely raised an eyebrow, daring the blond to attack him after his display earlier today with Kai.

Alisa frowned. "I'm goin' to assume that someone's moment was ruined."

Her cousin threw his hands up in annoyance. "I'm _going_ to _bed!_"

"…Well, we do have an early day tomorrow," she sighed. "Do any of you have an extra blanket? Loop's a good blanket, but we can't fit on the couch together."

Nadine smiled brightly. "You can sleep with me and Kai! The bed's so big all four of us can fit on it!" Kai blushed and tried to sputter something to negate his sister's suggestion, but nothing would come out. Instead, he sighed and bowed his head in defeat.

Alisa smiled. "That'd be just great!"

Mokuba elbowed his older brother and grinned. "Someone's going to have a hard time sleeping tonight!"

Seto smirked. "Indeed."


	10. Chapter 10

_Note: I do not write violence well. …At all. You will notice this chapter hops scenes. That's because I tried to write violence and action and I failed. If anyone feels they could write the scenes for me, I would greatly appreciate it. …Because this chapter irks me with its jump-here-jump-there. Anyway, on with the chapter!_

Chapter 10

Joey lifted one ear lazily as he heard the doorknob click, then raised his head, frowning. "Time to go already?"

Alisa crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Yes. Let's get goin', puppy."

He sighed and squirmed out of Seto's arms, grabbing his shirt. "Coming." He walked over to his cousin and frowned. "I don't want you gettin' hurt, Alisa."

"That's funny. I didn't want ya gettin' shot," she replied, smirking, before turning to go out the door again. "Come on, Joey, before ev'ryone wakes up."

"Ah…" The blond shot a hesitant look back at the brunet before going back and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye, Seto."

Seto's lips curved upward into a tiny smile. He snuggled deeper into his bed and sighed. "Puppy…"

Joey bit his bottom lip and tucked the blankets around his shoulders, then turned and walked out the door. He looked up at his cousin with moist brown eyes. "You wrote the letter, right?"

She nodded shortly. "Yes. It's on the table. I left a pot of cocoa on the stove so Nadine could heat it up." She turned sharply as she heard a small whimper and scowled. "Loop! Go lie down!" The wolf whined and slunk back into the room with Kai and Nadine, his tail curled up beneath his stomach. She sighed forlornly and walked toward the door quickly. "Let's just go. Please."

"Okay." The blond shut the door after the canine, added another letter to the table, then turned and followed her out the door.

-x-x-x-

Seto yawned softly and reached out to lay an arm around his puppy, then frowned when his hand only found cold, baron sheets. He opened his eyes in confusion and lifted his head, then sat up quickly when he realized his puppy wasn't there. Alisa couldn't have meant _that_ early of a start! …Could she?

He jumped out of bed quickly, running for the kitchen and hoping to see his puppy there, wearing that cute little pink apron and watching his cooking intently. Instead, all he saw was Nadine sobbing into her brother's chest, a piece of paper crushed in her hand. Mokuba was sitting across the table from them, looking sullen. Ryou had his head bowed, his brown eyes dull and lifeless.

"What happened?" When he was not answered immediately, Seto scowled. "_What happened?_"

"Alisa and Joey left early this morning," Kai replied, not moving his gaze from a spot on the wall. "They left a letter saying that if they didn't come back in three days, they were probably dead. If they died, Nadine and I are supposed to get Alisa's house. Joey said for Nadine to take care of you and Mokuba because you can't cook for shit." He finally turned his orange gaze on the CEO. "He left another letter for you."

Seto grabbed the letter and ripped it open quickly, eager to see what his puppy had left him. What he read stunned him, then saddened him greatly.

_Dear Seto,_

_Hey, it's your puppy. I don't know if I'm going to come back to you. I know I promised, but… I don't know if this is one I can keep. I wish I could for sure promise that I'd come back to you, but I can't. I'm sorry. I just want you to know that you made me feel special for maybe one of the first times in my life. I thank you for that._

_I think that if we'd had a little more time, I might have fallen in love with you. I guess it's a good thing I had to leave, huh? After all, you wouldn't want to be seen around with a stupid mutt. I mean, the only reason you're sleeping with me now is because I begged you to. I'm just street trash anyway. You can find better than me, after all. You're Seto Kaiba._

_I'm watching you sleep as I write this right now. You're so beautiful when you sleep. And not a girly kind of beautiful; I mean you're a masculine kind of beautiful, with your pale skin and brown hair and your long eyelashes. You're like a porcelain doll, too fragile and clean to touch with my dirty hands. I wish I could find out what you see when you think of me. Probably something about dogs and third-rate duelists, knowing you._

_I'm glad I got this chance with you though, Seto. I got to see a different side of you, and you got to see a different side of me. I hoped you liked the other side of me. I usually don't show people how much of a housewife I can be. …I… I hope you have the best life ever, Seto, and I hope Mokuba grows up to be a good kid._

_And I'm having Nadine cook for you guys. You'll kill yourselves otherwise._

_Yours truly,_

_Joey_

_P.S.—I think I may have just made myself love you._

Seto closed his eyes tightly and bowed his head. "Damn you, you stupid _mutt!_"

-x-x-x-

Alisa hissed in pain and slammed her fist into one of the metal walls, clutching a hand to the wound seeping blood slowly. "Damn it!"

Joey hovered behind her nervously. "Are you gonna be okay, Alisa? I thought we got 'em all."

"One o' the bastards is still out there waitin' to blow our heads off. Fuckin' ass. I swear t' God I'm gonna rip 'is intestines out!"

"Well, we have to go out and take care of him, otherwise the others…" he trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air.

She snarled and grabbed his shirt, dragging him closer. "Do _not_ let 'im leave alive, Joey. You'll never get a minute of peace. Now go take care of 'im. I don't have the energy."

He nodded slightly, brows furrowing together in worry, before turning to slink out of the room.

Alisa slid down the wall and laid her head against it, her eyes slowly drooping to a close. She continued watching him until he was finally out of sight, then fell limp against the wall.

-x-x-x-

Seto narrowed his eyes at the screen of his laptop before he slammed it shut. He couldn't concentrate. Every time he started trying to work, he'd see a vision of Joey shot, or Joey in pain, or Joey crying, reaching out for him—

Worse were the visions he got of Joey clinging to his cousin's lifeless body, sobbing, as a faceless figure advanced on him with a gun—

"_AAAGH!_" The alarm clock nearby met a painful end as it shattered against the wall.

-x-x-x-

Joey whimpered and dragged the limp body in his arms closer to the house in the distance. "Come on, 'lisa, we're almost there. It's not that far. Come on." He patted her hair absently as he paused to catch his breath. "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay." He looked over at the house, then sighed and began pulling his cousin toward it once more. "We're gonna be okay."

-x-x-x-

_**BAM**_

"OhmiGod, the wolf's going insane!" Kai exclaimed, jumping as Loop ran head-first into the door leading outside. He let out a squawk of disbelief when the wolf repeated the action, ramming his skull into the door with the intent to break it down or die trying. "It's trying to kill itself!"

Seto rolled his eyes and stood from the couch. "He wants outside. He probably has to piss or something." He opened the door and watched the wolf race out, frowning slightly when he showed no sign of stopping. "Loop…?" His gaze followed the canine silently before he let out a curse and began after him. "_Shit!_ Ryou, keep the kids distracted. Kai, come with me."

"Huh?" Kai looked after him, then stood, following him quickly. "What's wrong?" As soon as he made it outside and his gaze landed on what the brunet had seen, he gasped softly. "Joey!"

-x-x-x-

Joey sobbed and hugged his cousin close, burying his face in her shoulder. "We're almost there, 'lisa. We're almost there. We're gonna be okay. _You're_ gonna be okay." He hissed as something came up beside him and curled around his cousin protectively. "No." He growled as he felt someone pulling at him and tried to cling to his cousin. "_**NO!**_"

"Let go of her, Joey. _Let go._"

He sobbed and grabbed for his cousin again, even as he was pulled away from her. "No! No, don't take her away! I need her! Please don't take her away from me!"

"Come on, puppy." A gentle hand on his head, stroking his ears, rubbing his scalp. "Let's go inside." He began to relax, despite how much he didn't want to. "…She… she… was shot… in the siiiide!" he wailed, turning and clinging to the brunet. "She told me she didn't have the energy to go on and I—I just left her theeere!"

Seto sighed and pulled the blond closer. "Don't cry, puppy. She wouldn't want you to cry."

The blond sobbed into the older teen's shirt, clenching his jacket in his fists. "I could've helped her! If I hadn't left her, she'd—"

"Stop it, puppy. There was nothing you could do," the CEO stated sharply, scowling. "It's not your fault."

Joey nuzzled closer to him. "But—"

"Ah… She may still have a pulse," Kai stated, feline ear pressed to the woman's chest. "I can't tell… It's faint…" He scowled. "But I wouldn't doubt that she has the same will to live as you do, mutt."

The blond sniffled. "You think?"

"We won't know for sure unless we get her to Nadie and Ryou," the red-haired feline replied, lifting the limp body into his arms. "We'll leave them alone to do what they do, but nothing's for sure. Hopefully, she'll be fine. All we can do is try not to worry."

"How can I not worry when I—"

Seto growled and leaned down, crushing the blond's mouth with his own. "Mph."

"Mm-!" The canine boy gasped softly, eyes wide, before whimpering and falling against the larger teen. "Mm…" He hissed softly as the brunet slid his hands up and down his sides, then broke the kiss quickly, looking away from him. "You're just doing it to shut me up now, aren't you? Because you read the letter and now you're disgusted with me. …Or you just don't care about my feelings and want to fuck me either way."

"Look at me," the CEO snapped, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at him. "I'm not that cruel. And hell, I may not love you, but I like you. Isn't that a good place to start?"

Joey shrugged and looked away, frowning. "Who knows with you? You're so cold. I don't know. All I even know about you personally is that you like Duel Monsters and your favorite monster is the Blue Eyes. You don't _talk_ about things. You don't _open up._ Face it, Kaiba. We'd never be able to make it together on sex and my openness alone."

The brunet grabbed the canine boy's shoulders and yanked him around to lean against his chest. "So how about we make it sex, your openness, and me trying?"

"I—hah…?" The blond looked over his shoulder at him, frowning. "…You trying…?"

"Trying to talk, trying to open up, trying to love you and show you affection," Seto explained, leaning his face into the blond's neck. "Trying to wipe away all of your bad memories, trying to make you forgive me for all of the horrible things I've said and done to you, trying to be… _civil_ with your friends. Let me try, puppy." As the canine boy opened his mouth, he added, "I'll just keep pursuing you if you say no."

Joey sighed. "Then what's the point of giving me a choice?"

"…It would make me feel better if you wanted me as much as I want you."

He sighed again and closed his eyes. "Whatever, Kaiba. I'm tired."

The brunet ran his fingers through the smaller teen's hair and smiled slightly as he heard his breathing slow. "Just sleep then, pup."

"Mmn…" The blond's eyelids fluttered for a moment before falling still.

Seto lifted the pup into his arms and began carrying him to the house, absently wondering if it would be wrong to hoard the beautiful boy away like a dragon would a maiden. He refused to let anyone steal his puppy away, to give anyone else the chance of taking his heart when it rightfully belonged to _him_. But as he thought, he found himself deciding that would be a bad idea.

If Alisa lived and found out that that had been what he'd been doing, she would probably get angry.

And he liked being in one piece.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Joey didn't like to think of himself as the worried sort. He didn't let things get under his skin as most people did, and such things like that. He found himself terribly, horribly, _hopelessly_ wrong when it came to his cousin.

In his defense, she shouldn't be trying to get out of the bed the day she finally woke up after a two week comma when she got shot and nearly died.

And Nadine was such a sweet girl, strapping her to the bed so she couldn't escape/get up/hurt herself. However, even she found her endless patience indeed coming to an end as the woman kept _slipping her ropes._

Ryou liked Alisa, he really did. However, she was nearly as bad as Joey, who couldn't sit still for a minute even when his life depended on it. He was _this_ close to bashing her in the head with a frying pan so she _wouldn't get up._

Mokuba was worried about her, sure. She was nice to him, and she took care of Joey. But really, she couldn't heal if she didn't stay down!

Kai, of course, lost his temper and shouted that if she didn't rest, she'd get a spanking. That had only earned him laughter from the spectators and a small, amused smile from the bedridden woman. He'd then threatened to carry it out. When she'd attempted escape again, she'd earned herself three sharp smacks that kept her cowed.

For all of five minutes.

Seto, whom had yet to say anything at all on the subject, came in to find Joey and Kai holding her down as Ryou and Nadine attempted to tie her up again. He frowned. "This… seems counterproductive."

"A little help?!" Joey asked quickly, yelping as his cousin began to squirm and squiggle anew.

"Why not just let her up?" the brunet asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, she'll probably get more hurt struggling with you than she would if she just gets up and walks around."

Ryou frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "You know… he has a point."

"_Freedom!_" Alisa, seeing a distraction, ducked the hands grabbing at her and made her escape. Loop loped out after her, letting out a pathetic whine for her to wait up.

There was a moment of silence as the others merely stared at where she had once been before they turned simultaneously, sending the brunet acidic glares.

He took a step back, then began to back away. "Um… I'll just… go make sure she doesn't hurt herself more, then," he stated, before stepping out of view of the poisonous glares he was receiving.

Joey let out a frustrated roar. "How is she supposed to heal if she don't lay down?!"

"I say we drug her," Kai muttered, flexing his hands into fists. "Drug her and strap her down!"

Nadine let out a whine and looked up at her brother, frowning. "She's trying to hurt herself before you guys can get married!"

"Married?!" the two altered males exclaimed, horrified at the thought of being family.

"Ummm… Let's leave," Ryou stated, grabbing her hand and whisking her out of the room.

"…I say we tie them all up and leave them in a closet for a few days," Kai muttered, falling to the bed. "Or we tie them up and make them sit in a room with each other while a turkey his hopped up on caffeinated corn."

Joey raised an eyebrow at him. "That… was stupid. I'm going to go make sure Alisa's okay."

"I'm going to take a cold shower," the feline replied, standing up again and walking toward the bathroom.

The blond frowned. "Um… Why?"

"Because I just spanked your cousin and it made me hot, okay?"

Joey watched the door slam shut, eyebrow raised, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "Horny bastard." He continued downstairs to find his cousin and his—what? Friend? Boyfriend? Fuck buddy?—Seto sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the news. "Um… what are we—"

Alisa raised her hand to silence him without looking away from the TV. "Shh!" Seto lifted his gaze and sent the blond a slightly apologetic look, then returned to watching the news.

The blond frowned and fidgeted his fingers for a few seconds, feeling left out and at a loss. Whatever silent agreement the CEO had with his cousin, it must have been a good one. He felt his ears wilting. His cousin currently liked Seto better than she liked him. He turned his sad, lonely gaze on his feet and turned to walk into the kitchen.

A startled yelp escaped his throat as he was suddenly dragged backward onto the brunet's warm lap. "Yeep!"

"Don't make such a heart-broken face, puppy. I might just take you into the bedroom and give you a reason to make a different expression." Seto leaned his face into the blond's neck and sighed, making him shiver at the feeling of hot air against his skin. "…Besides, Kai got me thinking. Maybe… I could give _you_ a spanking."

Joey blushed and covered his face. "Don't say things like that, you pervert!"

"I will tie a knot in yer vocal chords," Alisa stated threateningly, shooting them a scathing glare, before looking back at the television.

The two younger teens could only stare at her for a few minutes before Seto scooted away from her. "What's her problem now?"

"Are you kidding?" the blond whispered back, frowning. "Did you not notice that she always knows _everything?_ Watching the news right now is probably the only thing keeping her from going into a full-out panic attack. She's always been like this; if she doesn't know everything that's going on in the world, she can't take care of the people she cares about."

"…You could have just moved the _freaking_ TV up to her room, you know!" the brunet hissed, then sighed and shook his head. "Oh, never mind."

"…Hey." Joey frowned and looked off to the side, cheeks tinting with red again. "When we go back—go home—can we go on a date? A real one?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. True, they'd be going back to Domino soon, and Joey would be going to live with Alisa. There would be no more close contact, no puppies to play with and no fiery red-headed cats to tease, and no more sex. Well, okay, so maybe sex wouldn't end _completely,_ but still. He'd bet his company that if Alisa had a say in it, there wouldn't be sex more than once a week.

He'd need to get Kai and Nadine on his side. If they could keep her distracted, he could whisk his puppy off more often.

-z-z-z-

They got maybe two seconds once the returned to Domino before Ryou was whisked off by his dearly beloved Bakura with a promise to kill all parties involved in the stealing of his hikari. Joey had then been accosted by his tiny friend and dragged away. The blond had flung apologies over his shoulder and exclaimed that he'd come to cook for them at the mansion later okaythanksbye.

Alisa placed her hands on her hips and huffed, then turned to the rest of them, raising an eyebrow. "…I'm going home now. I'll… see you later," she stated, then turned to go.

"Uh, we'll walk you!" Nadine exclaimed, then looked up at her brother pleadingly. "Won't we?"

The redhead looked down into her pleading purple eyes, then sighed and trudged to be level with the woman. "Alright."

The raven-haired girl squeaked in delight and dashed to grab both of their hands, hurriedly dragging them away. "By Mokie! We'll see you later!"

"By Nadie!" Mokuba called back, waving after them, before turning his gaze on his brother and blinking. "Sooo… now what?"

"Now? We go back to life the way it was before." Seto frowned, then turned to get back into his car. "Let's go get groceries before Joey comes to make dinner."

The younger boy frowned. "How? I mean, _he's_ the one that chose all of the food last time."

"…I have never had a great disliking for the 'eenie meanie minie mo' method."

"And you're supposed to be a genius?"

Seto shrugged, then frowned and turned toward his little brother. "What sort of animal were you fused with, anyway?"

Mokuba blinked innocently, then smiled, making sure to show his teeth. The brunet watched in horrified fascination as his brother's teeth sunk back into his gums before another set reemerged, sharper and much more lethal.

When his brother snapped his teeth playfully, he reared back in disgust and tripped into his seat in the car. "Oh, God, that's gross!"

"I've been spliced with a shark," the raven-haired teen stated, placing his hands on his hips, and snapped his teeth again. "I can breathe underwater and swim like a fish!"

"Ew, ew, ew! I just saw shark teeth in my baby brother's mouth!"

-z-z-z-

"_Never. Again,_" Joey stated coldly, storming into the Kaiba mansion after having to beat off reporters and paparazzi, squeezing through the tiny gap between the gates that the guards had allowed, and walking up the half-mile drive.

Mokuba frowned in concern. "Did any of the paparazzi hurt you, Joey? I know sometimes they get a little desperate…"

"No, it's not even them!" the blond complained, grimacing as he allowed his ears and tail out again. "Oh God, that _hurts._"

Seto wandered out of the kitchen and frowned, munching on a carrot stick. "What's going on now?"

Joey blinked at him for a moment, just absorbing the fact that the CEO had a towel stained with various foods around his waist and was wearing the ever casual jeans and t-shirt. "Uh… What are you doing?"

"I sear a good steak," the brunet replied, rolling his eyes. "I just have trouble marinating the mushrooms and steaming the vegetables."

"…You put the vegetables in the top part—" the dog-boy began, making motions with his hands of opening a pot and placing something in.

Seto scowled. "I figured that out, smart ass," he stated, turning to stomp back into the kitchen.

Receiving a confused stare, Mokuba smiled. "We found a cookbook and decided it would be fun to make side dishes for the steak!"

"I see." The blond smiled as well. "Let's eat then! I'd like to sample some of this 'Kaiba food!'"

"So what were you saying that you never wanted to do again?" the elder Kaiba asked, sliding one of the steaks onto a plate and scooping a bunch of mushrooms onto it, then lifting his gaze to rest on the blond's face.

Joey's smile immediately faded. "Oh. Well, Yugi and Yami wanted me to prove that I've got a string of dog DNA in me, and when I finally freaking did, Yugi pounced on me and wouldn't stop fondling them. I swear to God, he almost made me want to put my ass in the air right there."

Mokuba squeaked and grabbed the plate as it slid from his brother's suddenly limp fingers. "Ah, Seto! The food!"

"…No one gets to touch your fucking ears except me," Seto stated finally, pointing at the blond's ears and viciously stabbing another steak.

"H-hey, no need to get rough with the food!" Joey exclaimed, holding his hands up to show he meant to harm. "I mean, I wasn't planning on letting them touch again!"

The brunet narrowed his eyes at him skeptically. "…You better not," he stated finally, his voice threatening something that could be assumed might be a spanking if he wasn't obeyed, before he turned and began scooping some steamed carrots, broccoli, and cabbage onto the plate.

Mokuba smiled at the blond innocently. "That's Seto's way of saying he cares about you!"

Joey gulped as the brunet slammed his plate down in front of him, then looked up at him through his bangs. "Um… Thanks."

"Whatever."

He hesitated before lifting a fork of steamed cabbage and broccoli to his lips. He was sort of frightened of what it would taste like; after all, Seto and Mokuba had been living off cup-of-noodles for a while. His face brightened as he found he didn't immediately find he wanted to vomit and he cheerfully began eating like the teenage boy he was.

The younger Kaiba smiled and looked up at his brother fondly. "See? I told you he'd like it!"

"…Shut up, Mokuba," the brunet muttered, then shoved a piece of steak in his mouth.

"Isn't it cute how he wants to impress you?" Mokuba continued, only to wince as he got smacked in the back of the head. "_Ow!_"

"I said shut up!" Seto hissed, shooting his brother a glare, before going back to his meal.

Joey giggled and shrugged. "You guys are so weird. I look forward to getting to know you better."

"…Yeah, what are you guys going to do when you go on your date?"

"Well I'm sure we're going to go on more than one. Isn't that the point?" the brunet asked, looking up at the dog-boy for confirmation. When he received a nod, he looked back at his brother. "Yeah, so I figured first we could just do whatever Joey wants to do and then next we could do whatever I wanted to do, and switch off like that."

The blond smiled sweetly. "I'd like that." He blushed and suddenly frowned, ears folding downward. "As long as I'm back at Alisa's by ten each night."

Seto raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "I'm sure we could manage that."

Joey tilted his head, worried by this expression. "Why are you looking at me like that? Mokuba, why is he looking at me like that?!" When the younger boy merely laughed, he really began to worry. "What's with the expression? Huh?! Guys!"

Oh, it was the start of a beautiful relationship indeed.


End file.
